


Then and Now

by Justaillusion (sj2288)



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Ghosts, M/M, Past Lives, Reincarnation, Shameless Big Bang, Soulmates, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 06:23:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2378114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sj2288/pseuds/Justaillusion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if you met your soul mate, but he’s a ghost who had died years before? Mickey Milkovich has spent his life helping ghost’s move on, but when he meets a ghost from the 40’s; he can’t seem to let him go. Thousands of miles away Ian Gallagher who had been able to see ghost’s since he died briefly as a child; meets a another ghost who had died in World War 2, and experiences similar feelings. What neither of them realizes is they are soul mates who had both ran into ghosts of each others past lives. Mickey ran into another ghost named Ian and Ian a ghost named Michael. Neither knows that their other half is with the other. Now Mickey and Ian have to find their way to each other, but what happens when the others past lives interfere?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story put me through so much. I would like to thank my beta christinchen@tumblr.com for helping me with my mess and my wonderful artist startsomefires@tumblr.com! Thank you both for your help and your understanding! 
> 
> Now as for the story this started out as something different and has changed so much over time. It seriously took on a life of it's own. I did my WW2 and 1940's research,but I might have messed up some things a little. I apologize before hand for that.
> 
> (Art to be added soon)

Ian had no clue what had just happened.  
“Michael! Michael!” he yells.  
One minute he’s talking and then he’s just vanishing into thin air without a trace.  
“Michael!” he calls. He runs a hand through his hair, panicking. Okay there has to be a reasonable explanation for this, right?  
He looks around and notices his phone on the night stand. _Mandy!_ He thinks, her brother has been working with ghosts for years maybe he will understand what just happened.

Mandy answers after only a couple of rings.  
“Ian, right now isn’t really a good time.”  
“Mandy wait I need to talk to your brother.”  
She's quiet for a second.  
“Oh, now you want to talk to my brother?”  
“Yes, I need to know something important about ghosts!”  
“I swear you two and your damn ghosts!”  
“Mandy, please!”  
“Okay, but I don’t know if he’ll talk. He’s freaking out a little right now.”  
He can hear Mandy asking in the background `hey my friend wants to know if he can talk to you’ then he hears a way too familiar voice ask _`Ian? Is it Ian?’_ then a frustrated Mandy answers _`yes, asshole how many friends do think I have?’_  
“Ian?” asks a familiar shaky voice on the phone a moment later.  
“Michael? How are you on a phone? What’s going on? Where are you?”  
The line is quiet for a very long time then:  
“This isn’t Michael, Ian. My name is Mickey and I’m your soulmate.”  


**Approximately 1 year earlier**

Mickey lets out an exasperated sigh as he walks into the house. He can feel the spirit already. The only thing he can tell at the moment is that it’s old, but he won’t know for sure how old until he sees it. He can also feel that it’s sad. So sad that it’s making his insides hurt. If only he could have told the realtor he wanted a place specifically with no ghosts, but that would have only made him sound crazy.  
He drops his first set of bags onto the floor and goes to get the rest of his stuff from outside. When he moves he never brings too much with him. It goes with having to move around so much. With help from his brothers it’s only takes about an hour before all of his things are moved into the house.  
After putting it off for as long as possible he heads upstairs, almost wanting to curse when he realizes his brothers had moved his bed into the same room the spirit was in. It’s not like the thing can’t move, but they tend to stick to familiar places and he feels that this spirit has been in here for a while.

* * *

Mickey really doesn’t know what he is. In popular culture some people would say he’s a medium or an empath but that didn’t exactly explain his abilities: For as long as he can remember he could see ghosts. They were his childhood friends, they protected him, they scared him, but he never noticed that it was anything special until he got older.  
When you’re a kid talking about people no one else can see people think it’s cute, but as you grow older it isn’t cute anymore it's crazy. He had inherited his abilities from his mother who had inherited it from his grandmother. Once he was old enough to understand she had sat him down and explained why he couldn’t ever talk about the things he saw.  
She had explained their purpose in life was to help those ghosts in need, to help them move on to a better place. She had always been so optimistic and full of life! She was the light in the dark place that was his existence. Why she had loved his father, he would never know, but she managed to bring out the best in him as well. After she had died nothing had been the same. Whatever good there had been in his father was gone, and the last bit of light in his life had been put out.  
He had seen his mother one last time after her passing. She had wrapped her arms around him and told him everything was going to be okay. She hadn’t known how wrong she’ll be. She told him more about his powers. About what he could and couldn’t too, but she also assured him everything else will be learned in time.  
Her face had turned sour when his grandma showed up. He still doesn’t know what for, but she too had embraced her daughter and Mickey. His grandma told his mom she will help Mickey as much as she can. That’s how he had found out that his grandmother was just like them. His father had chased her off not long after the funeral, but she still kept in touch with Mickey from time to time, but mostly he felt abandoned by the women who had promised to help him.

* * *

He studies the spirit in his new house for a moment. He’s tall with red hair and looks like he could be from the 1940’s if his clothing was any indication. He wears a brown button up vest with matching brown pants and a long white shirt. That is all he can see though because the boy, who can’t be older than 18, is sitting in the windowsill his back to him.  
He doesn’t even move when Mickey enters the room. Probably used to strangers going in and out of his life by now.  
“Hey you, red head, windowsill!”  
The boy turns awkwardly towards him, looking like he can’t be talking to me right, but there isn’t any other person in the room.  
Shit he is really attractive Mickey thinks. He isn’t going to be very easy to work with.  
The boy stares at Mickey for an instant and his eyes go really wide. He jumps like Mickey is the ghost instead of him and the shock he is feeling has Mickey gasping for air.  
“Michael?” the boy sobs disbelieving what he’s seeing.  
Mickey feels it all, the sorrow, the shock, the need! He takes a step back and falls onto the bed, forcing his mental barriers up. This spirit was strong. His heartbreak felt like Mickey’s heartbreak and deep down in his soul he knew him. He doesn’t know how, but he knew him and every part of him was screaming out to the boy.  
Once the mental barriers are in place he takes a deep breath of relief. It had only taken a moment but it felt like hours. He smiles at the boy whose is still staring at him in utter shock. The boy stands and walks towards him, slowly his hand goes to his cheek. Normally Mickey wouldn’t let a spirit touch him so intimately, but it’s what the boy needs and a part of him needed it too.  
“Michael?” he repeated uncertain.  
Mickey, so unlike himself took the boys hand gently and removed it.  
“No kid, my name's Mickey.”  
The boy stumbled away from him quickly, seemingly heartbroken.  
“Oh,” he said unsteadily looking down, then in an instant his eyes were back on Mickey.  
“You can see me?”  
Mickey nods.  
“And touch me?”  
Mickey nods again.  
“How?”  
Mickey shrugs.  
“Don’t exactly know why, I’ve just always been able to do it.”  
The boy goes to him again and starts poking him. Mickey swats his hand away.  
“Hey, stop that!”  
The boy steps away from him smiling for the first time.  
“Please forgive me, I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just amazing!”  
“I know, isn’t it just great? You can poke me all day long!” he meant it to sound sarcastic, but the boy doesn’t really seem to get it.  
“Why would I do that? I’m not nuts!”  
The boy frowns and goes back to his window seat, and it make’s Mickey feel pretty shitty.  
“Sorry, what’s your name kid?”  
The boy gazes back up at him.  
“Ian,” he answers quietly.  
“Ian? My friend has a brother named Ian. How old are you?”  
Ian thinks for a moment.  
“What year is it?”  
Mickey shakes his head with a laugh.  
“No, I mean how old were you when you passed?”  
He had learned a long time ago not to use the word died with ghosts some were okay with it, but others got seriously offended.  
“Nineteen,” he answers solemnly.  
So Mickey had been wrong about the age. Well, he was just looking at his back so who can blame him and it’s just a year anyway.  
“Oh I was guessing eighteen.”  
Ian gives him a bemused expression.  
“That’s strange. Most people say I looked much older after returning from the war.”  
“That’s because when you pass your body reflects how you would look without all the bad stuff.”  
Now Ian looks really confused.  
“Let me explain it this way. You were in a war, but you might have noticed you no longer carry any of the scars.”  
He really hated having to explain things to people in the past. If they died recently he wouldn’t have any problem, but he doesn’t know how much Ian can understand. They didn’t exactly talk the same way back then as they do today. He might have picked up on some things over the years, but Mickey can’t be sure how much.  
Mickey notices Ian rub his chest uncomfortably.  
“I noticed that. Mickey, can I ask you a question?”  
Mickey lies down on the bed.  
“If you die from something like gunshot wound. Would you still have that?”  
“No.”  
He relaxes, Mickey hadn’t even noticed how tense he had gotten.  
“That’s good! How old are you?”  
“Twenty one”  
Ian sighs heavily like that upsets him.  
“One year older than Michael.”  
Mickey sits up he had almost forgotten the crazy Michael situation. How is that even possible? It had just happened and it was so different than anything that has ever happened to him before.  
“Who’s Michael?”  
If ghosts could blush he’s pretty sure Ian would be right now.  
“He was my friend. He died in the war, a year before I did.”  
Oh, Mickey is sure he was much more than a friend by the way Ian had been touching him earlier, but he understands it was even harder to be a homosexual back then than it is today.  
“You know Ian I’m gay so you can tell me the truth!”  
Ian gives him a strange look.  
“What does being happy have to do with anything?”  
Mickey can barely restrain his laughter.  
“Sorry that was rude.” Mickey apologizes. “I mean I’m a queer like you!”  
Ian’s eyes narrow. Mickey realizes he's gone too far and quickly back-pedals.  
“Sorry that was an insult wasn’t it? I mean I prefer men over women.”  
Ian reacts shocked by Mickey’s bluntness.  
“That is if you are comfortable with telling me about it.”  
Ian turns away, lost in his thoughts and just when Mickey thinks he’s going to ignore him for the rest of the night he speaks.  
“He was everything to me! I never loved anybody so much! He died not long after they sent me home. You know you look a lot like him. That’s why when I saw you I thought you were him. Now I know how nuts I was being. Why would he be here after so long and why would he be alive? I’ve just been alone for so long!”  
Mickey doesn’t know what to say at first. This seemed somewhat familiar to him. It was almost like he understood exactly what Ian was taking about, because he felt the same way. It can’t be that he is feeling Ian’s feelings. His shields are firmly in place after the incident earlier. So why did this make him feel so sad? Almost as if he had lost something too.  
Doing what he does has made him become really tough when it came to his emotions. He wasn’t emotionless, but he had to learn to deal with even the worst of situations. If he didn’t, he would have went crazy a long time ago. Seeing things like dead kids looking for their mommies or a woman who had been brutally murdered can really take its toll on you.  
So he had to think of this as a job and try not to get emotionally involved. In this case though he was breaking those rules and he didn't even mean to. He had only known this guy for what? 30 minutes? And he already felt attached to him. It wasn’t just that he was sexually attracted to him either. It was so much more than that.  
Mickey excuses himself and picks up his phone. He quickly dials the number he had come to know so well over the years. It takes her forever to answer.  
“Hello, Rita here!”  
“Grandma, it’s Mickey”  
“Oh hello dear, how have things been?”  
“Fine fine. Hey I got a question for you?”  
“Is that all you can call your grandmother for these days?”  
He’s really not in the mood for this conversation.  
“Sorry, look I just met this ghost and I’m having these really weird feelings.”  
“Have you been using your shields?”  
“Yes, but still it’s like I know him.”  
“Well maybe he reminds you of someone.”  
“Believe me he doesn’t, and I just —“  
He takes a breath  
“He’s getting in my head”  
“Oh well, that’s not good at all! He must be a strong spirit. Try to help him move on quickly.”  
The idea of that makes him queasy.  
“I —“  
He stops himself. If he tells her too much she might try to vanquish Ian herself.  
“You’re probably right. I’ll do that thanks.”  
“Anytime.”  
As he returns to his room Ian in sitting on his bed, pushing at it. When he sees Mickey he smiles.  
“I hope you don’t mind”  
Mickey shakes his head and takes a seat at the foot of the bed.  
“What kind of bed is this? It’s feels so strange.”  
“Oh that” He walks over to the top of the bed and pulls back the sheets.  
“It’s called a memory foam, see.”  
He takes Ian’s hand and presses it down into the foam leaving an imprint behind. Ian looks up amazed and meets his eyes. They look at each other a long beat. Then Mickey averts his gaze clearing his throat.  
“Anyway it makes the bed softer.”  
Ian continues to mess with the bed pushing it up and down continuously. Mickey watches him until eventually he falls asleep.

* * *

_Ian and Michael lie inches from each other, both were unable to move or stop looking at the one person who meant everything to them. The knowledge of what’s to come grips them both. Michael’s hand reaches out to dry a tear from Ian’s face. Only causing more tears to fall.  
“When?” Ian asks.  
Michael takes a deep breath. The pain making his chest hurt.  
“Tomorrow.”  
Ian exhales deeply and Michael struggles to keep it together. As Ian’s finger tips gently touch his face. Michael is unable to hold it back any longer. He grabs Ian’s hand holding it closer with tears running down his face.  
“It will be okay! I’ll come home to you! I promise.”  
He knows he has no right to promise such a thing. He's not sure he can keep that promise, but if it made Ian feel less pain he wouldn’t take it back for the world.  
Ian lifts himself from the grass and finds Michael’s lips. He leans in and kisses him on the mouth. Michael gently takes him into his arms. The kiss intensifies, and they start to unbutton each other's clothes.  
“I love you” Ian whispers into his lips.  
“I love you too” Michael returns.  
This is the last night they will have together so they try to make it worth it. Ian won’t be able to say goodbye to him tomorrow like his family. If possible they will get a quick hug and handshake, but Michael won’t be able to kiss him. He won’t able to tell him how he feels. So they drown in each other; in this last night._

* * *

Mickey wakes to find Ian staring at him. He has this weird look in his eyes. Mickey wonders what he’s thinking, but is too afraid let his shields down. This guy is still in a lot of pain over his lost love and Mickey really doesn’t want to feel that again.  
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” Ian asks.  
Mickey shakes his head sitting up.  
“No and believe me you’re not the first ghost to watch me sleep.”  
Ian takes a seat on the bed.  
“Mickey I was wondering, do you see all ghosts?”  
Mickey nods not liking where this is going.  
“I have a friend who lives down the street she would be really excited to meet someone like you.”  
Another ghost this is just great. He rubs his eyes.  
“I guess I can go meet her.”  
Ian jumps up excitedly.  
“Great you’re going to love her I promise!”  
After having some breakfast and getting dressed Ian leads him down the street. At first all Mickey thinks he’s seeing is a little girl playing and then the realization hit’s him. She’s dead.  
His mind was not always so willing to accept the deaths of children. So it glossed over the fact that this little girl was traveling through the table rather then around it.  
“Penny!” Ian calls.  
The little girl turns towards them. She was a cute girl around 8 with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. She skips towards Ian.  
“Ian! Where have you been?” she looks at Mickey, “and who’s the hottie?”  
“Hottie?” Ian asks unsure what she’s saying.  
Penny giggles  
“That means he’s cute!”  
Ian looks at Mickey embarrassed.  
“Penny he can hear you.”  
Penny looks Mickey up and down. Mickey stares back at her. The girl takes a step back.  
“Wow! You were serious!”  
She eyes Mickey.  
“So what’s your name handsome?”  
Handsome? This girl is like 8!  
“Mickey”  
The girl skips back to her table to retrieve something. Singing as she goes.  
“Oh Mickey, you're so fine. You're so fine; you blow my mind, hey Mickey”  
Ian stands there stunned. Mickey only rolls his eyes. She returns with a card for Ian.  
“Made this for you”  
She hands it to him. He smiles and takes it from her.  
“Thanks Penny” he leans down and kisses her cheek she smiles brightly.  
Penny turns back to Mickey.  
“Are you one of those medians?”  
“It’s called a medium and no not really.”  
“Then what the hell are you?”  
“Penny!” Ian scolds her.  
The little girl doesn’t seem bothered by it.  
“So what are you here for? Do you want to exorcise us or something?”  
Mickey shakes his head.  
“No! I don’t even know if that shits real!” Damn he cussed in front of a kid.  
“What about The Exorcist? It’s based off of true events!”  
Ian is interested now as well.  
“What were you doing watching The Exorcist?”  
“One of my livings is a teenager and she watched it at a party.”  
Mickey’s eyebrows shoot up.  
“One of your livings?”  
“Yes one of my livings! The Brigman’s! All of this stuff” She motion’s to all of the children’s stuff in the yard. “Belongs to Jenny she’s not much younger than me! Sometimes I think she can even see me!”  
The young were more likely to see the deceased than the adults. So that was a possibility. He wonders if Jenny ever notices her stuff missing or in different places then they had been before.  
“Look Penny!” Ian says before reaching over and touching Mickey.  
Mickey hadn’t been expecting it so he jumps at the contact. Neither of them seems to notice. Penny hurls herself at Mickey hugging him tight.  
“Oh my god” she squeals “You’re so warm!”  
Ian peels the girl away from him.  
“Penny, that’s a little weird. He doesn’t even know you.”  
She shrugs  
“But I can touch him!”

* * *

A million questions and a little over an hour later they head back home. Mickey immediately recognizes the car in the driveway.  
“Mandy.” he says to himself but Ian answers him nonetheless.  
“Who’s Mandy?”  
“My sister.”  
He doesn’t even make it all the way into the house before she’s punching him.  
“Fuck! What was that for?”  
“Leaving and not telling me where you were going!”  
“Calm down!”  
“You really shouldn’t raise your voice to women like that Mickey!” Ian tells him.  
“Things are different now. We can yell at them all we want especially if they just hit us!”  
Mandy calms down immediately looking behind Mickey  
“I’m sorry I didn’t realize he had company. I’m Mandy, his sister!”  
“And that’s Ian,” Mickey says before Ian can say anything himself.  
“How did you find me?”  
“How long did you think it would take me to get it out of one of the assholes?”  
“Geeze, she’s just as bad as you are!” Ian comments.  
Mickey ignores him.  
“Great! I knew I shouldn’t have asked for their help! How about Dad, does he know?”  
“No.”  
“Good.”  
Mickey spent most of his life running from his dad. His father only saw him as a paycheck. He wanted to use him and his abilities to get as much money from people as possible. Mickey couldn’t do that. His duty was to help the deceased not use them to bankrupt their families or use them to get information illegally. When he was younger he had made them do all kinds of things for his father, and he still felt guilty over it.  
“My best friend is named Ian,” says Mandy to where she assumed Ian was standing.  
Great she’s talking to the ghost now. Who’s actually standing right behind her.  
“He’s behind you.”  
She turns and they come face to face with each other, but Mandy doesn’t know that.  
She shivers slightly and Ian steps back upset.  
“Tell her I’m sorry.”  
Mickey shakes his head.  
“It was nothing.”  
Mandy looks at him confused.  
“He’s sorry he made you cold.”  
“Oh, it’s okay.”  
Mandy had gotten pretty good at dealing with them by now, but she had no other choice growing up with someone like him.  
She takes a small tour around the house shooting him with questions for Ian.  
“When did you die?” Mickey shakes his head frantically at her. She should know better than to ask questions like that. Ian answers her anyway. Not in the least bothered by the question.  
“May 16th,1945 “  
Mickey relays this information.  
“How did you die? Was it in World War 2?”  
Dammit Mandy! Ian’s eyes darken, but he answers.  
“No I died of an infection. I was sent home the year before.”  
Mickey tells her. Her face screws up.  
“Well that sucks! You get home, but still die!”  
They really had to work on her ghost communication techniques.  
“It was okay, I wanted to die.”  
Mickey stops and turns to face him mouth dropping open. Mandy stops too after noticing Mickey.  
“What is it? What did he say?” Mandy asks.  
Mickey ignores her.  
“Ian did you kill yourself? If you did I can’t help you!”  
He shakes his head.  
“No, like I said it was an infection.”  
Mickey takes a deep breath. Mandy gets the hint and stops her line of questioning.

* * *

Mickey sits on the couch and turns on the TV. Ian sits down beside him staring at him again.  
“Are you going to keep doing that?”  
“Doing what?”  
“Staring at me all the time”  
Ian turns away quickly.  
“I’m not staring.”  
“Yes you are! You’ve been doing it all day. Do you usually do this to people when they can’t see you?”  
“No.”  
“Okay. Well, stop it.”  
“Sorry.”  
“Stop doing that too.”  
“What?”  
Mickey turns to him frustrated.  
“Apologizing all the time.”  
“I can’t apologize?”  
“No.”  
Mickey sighs.  
“Okay yes, but you don’t have to apologize for everything you think you’ve done wrong. Only for the things you really have to be sorry for.”  
“Okay.”  
“Okay, now let’s watch some TV.”  
Ian glances at the screen and then back at Mickey. Mickey is going to say something about his staring again, but he asks a question.  
“About your TVs: I’ve never been able to ask this before. How do they work?”  
Mickey feels like he’s getting a migraine.  
“They uh, there are like little portable theaters, but you don’t have to leave to go see the films. They come to you.”  
“How?”  
“From the cords.”  
“The cords? How do pictures come from cords? How does anything come from cords?”  
Ian starts thinking hard about it. Mickey sighs, and goes to get his iPad. He looks up Television and hands it over for Ian to read.  
After that the only interruptions he gets is Ian asking him to look something else up.

* * *

“hm” Ian said one day looking up from the iPad that he was now thankfully able to touch himself. “Your history sites have a much different perspective of the war than we did.”  
Mickey grabs it from him and sees Wikipedia he laughs handing it back to him.  
“That isn’t a history site, but I don’t know if the history sites are going to be much better.”  
Ian sits up cross legged on the bed holding the iPad in his lap.  
“So this is what was really happening while we were fighting? It was all real what they were saying?”  
Mickey shrugs.  
“I guess, I mean there’s proof isn’t there?” he lights a cigarette taking a long drag. “It was a pretty fucked up war.”  
Ian puts the iPad down and rises to his knees in front of Mickey, because he just did weird things like that sometimes and even more now that he was getting comfortable with him.  
“I was thinking about something.”  
He reaches out and almost touches the cigarette, but rethinks it and pulls his hand away quickly. Mickey looks down at the cigarette, and smiles.  
“You want a smoke?”  
“Yeah, but I don’t know if I can even touch it and I’m not breathing so…” his words trail off.  
Mickey holds out the cigarette. With determination Ian tries to touch it, but his finger goes straight through. He sits back disappointed.  
“Oh, come here,” Mickey grabs him pulling his chin up. He takes a large drag of the cigarette, holds it for a moment and then leans in closer to Ian’s mouth, releasing the smoke against his lips.  
He moves back quickly realizing what he had done, and how intimate it had seemed, but Ian didn’t seem to notice or just simply didn’t care.  
“I could taste that!” Ian exclaims “Do you think we can try that with Marijuana next?”  
That’s how Mickey ended up high off his ass with an 86 year old ghost who is really handsy when he’s high or is it him that’s handsy? How is it even possible for the ghost to get high? Or is it that he is so high, he is only imaging that Ian is high. Shit, that’s too much to think about.  
“Your eyes,” Mickey chuckled, “are fucking insane.” He looks deeply into them pressing his face closer to Ian’s. Ian takes a deep breath more out of habit than need; something in the back of Mickey’s mind tells him this and that should have been a warning he was getting too close.  
“Are they green or blue?”  
Ian thinks about that a moment a smile spreading across his face and it might have been the weed but Mickey really wants to kiss him. Okay, he admits, it isn’t the weed, he always wants to kiss him.  
“I don’t know why don’t you tell me?” Ian offers leaning in closer to Mickey. He’s only mere inches away so Mickey thinks fuck it, and grabs him smashing their lips together.  
Ian’s lips were cold against his own, but they were inviting so Mickey spent the rest of the night kissing him until he couldn’t anymore.  
The next day neither of them mentioned it and Mickey pretended he didn’t remember, but the sly smile Ian gave him sometimes lets him know he remembers it all. Damn bastard wasn’t high at all.

* * *

_A guy stood in front of him. He was a mess so he could tell that he had been with the others who had arrived earlier.  
The thing that has him standing there frozen was the color of the guy’s hair. It reminded him so much of Ian’s. He wanted to laugh at how foolish he was being.  
“Hey Milkovich, what are you looking at?”  
Michael blinks, and looks towards his friend.  
“Nothing, I just thought I seen someone I knew.”  
“You might have, some of them are from Illinois like us.”  
His friend gives him a pat on the back and walks past.  
Michael watches the guy some more. Then as if he felt like he was being watched the guy turns and a pair of familiar eyes meets his.  
“Ian” he whispers.  
Ian eyes flutter in disbelief as he stands there speechless.  
Forcing himself to move Michael makes his way to him. He stops only inches away.  
“Hey stranger.”  
They share a smile  
“Hey.”  
They embrace briefly, quickly whispering I missed you and I can’t believe you are here into each other's ears. Then they quickly pull away before it looked like anything else than just two friends reuniting.  
Michael gives him a slap on the back.  
“Follow me, I have something to show you.”  
Ian nods and follows. Michael looks back to make sure nobody is watching them and pulls Ian deeper into woods. When he feels they are far enough away he rubs at his bottom lip then turns to Ian.  
He grabs him pinning him to a tree and kisses him pressing their bodies together. Ian lets out a soft sigh against his lips, as he holds Michael by the back of the neck with one hand as the other wraps around his waist.  
Michael’s hand reaches up and he strokes Ian’s cheek lovingly.  
“I love you so much,” he mutters.  
“I thought I’ll never see you again,” Ian cries licking his way back into his mouth. They both moan as their bodies press harder into each other.  
They break apart and their foreheads pressed together.  
“How are you even here?” Michael asks.  
“I turned 18! How long did you think it was going to take until they shipped me out too?”  
Michael shakes his head.  
“You’re what?”  
Ian punches him hard in the chest.  
“You missed my birthday you jerk” he jokes.  
Michael doesn’t find it funny. He pulls away and starts pacing.  
“Shit!”  
Ian grabs his arm.  
“Hey it’s okay, I was just joking.”  
“No Ian, it isn’t okay, and I know you were joking, but you’re 18! I didn’t want you to ever have to be here.”  
“Why not? You’re here? At least now we’re together.”  
Michael takes Ian’s face into his hands and kisses everywhere he can, his face, his lips, his neck.  
“You’re right, but I’m not letting you go again, I can’t.”  
Ian lets out a sigh of relief leaning into his kisses.  
“Then don’t.”  
They kiss again, but Michael pulls back after only a moment.  
“We better head back,” he tells him shakily, “They’ll kill us if they find out what we are.”_

* * *

The night Penny passed on was the night Mickey found out how hard it was to let go of someone you let yourself get attached to. With most ghosts he would stay with for a week tops. He just had to help them find what it was that had kept them there for so long or just help them accept death. This really wasn’t as hard as it seemed. Sometimes it could be something really simple like seeing their child all grown up or just helping them find their way home.  
He had to distance himself from them emotionally and never under any circumstance develop any bonds with them. Everything went wrong this time and he knows Ian was to blame. If he had seen Penny around he would have made her move on a long time ago but this was Ian’s friend and he didn’t want to upset him. Then somewhere along the line he started to like her too.  
On that night they all three laid together on Mickey’s bed. Mickey up against Ian as Ian played with his hair and Penny against Mickey’s side. They were all three watching The Sandlot, because it didn’t matter if they were dead or not they needed to watch the Sandlot.  
“I saw Babe Ruth play once,” Ian told them.  
“Bullshit! What were you, like 3?” Mickey responded.  
“No, I was 6! I don’t remember much, but I remember my dad pointing him out and saying that’s Babe Ruth. Years later I always bragged about it. So I think that’s the main reason I remember.”  
Penny shrugged.  
“Boys and their sports.”  
Suddenly her eyes went wide and Ian jumped hitting Mickey upside the head.  
“What the fuck” he yelled, but neither of them were looking at him.  
“Mickey what is that?” Penny asked.  
“What’s what?”  
“Mom!” Penny cried.  
Oh no, Mickey grabbed Penny close to him.  
“Penny did you do anything different today? Think anything different?”  
She shook her head.  
“No, but Mickey look! It’s my Mom! She wants me to come with her! Should I go?”  
Mickey nodded and kissed the top of her head.  
“Yes, Penny. It’s time for you to move on.”  
She looked frantically at both of them. Ian pulled her into a hug.  
“But...” she stammered.  
“I was just thinking how it wasn’t so bad to be dead anymore because I have the two of you.”  
She had accepted her death.  
“I know Penny, but sometimes that’s all it takes,” Mickey told her.  
She held onto Ian, sobbing into his shirt.  
“I’m going to miss both of you!”  
Mickey shook his head  
“I hope not!”  
Please, don’t let this little girl remember anything about any of this, he thought.  
She steadily got to her feet.  
“Mommy!” she cried and ran until she disappeared from their lives forever.  
Ian looked over at Mickey.  
“Mickey the light’s still there.”  
Mickey grabbed onto him tightly.  
“Ian it’s not for you okay, don’t look at it!”  
He had really hoped it wasn’t for him.

* * *

The months passed by rather quickly, and still he doesn’t even try to make Ian move on. He knows this is wrong, but he can’t seem to care. Ian was the best friend he had ever had. He understood him in a way nobody else could.  
The thought of losing this person who had become the center of his universe was almost too much to bear. So he kept him around.  
Ian had started to get used to Mickey’s way of talking and wasn’t so behind in the times that Mickey had originally feared.  
He had begun to use Ian to rant to about his daily encounters with ghosts and life in general. Ian listened just contented to have someone to talk to.  
“Guess who I ran into today?” Mickey started to complain.  
“Who?” Ian asks.  
“Peter Scott!”  
“That boy from school?”  
“Yes, has a family and everything with that bitch cheerleader, closeted asshole!”  
Ian lies beside him on the bed resting his head on his shoulder, as Mickey downs his beer before tossing the can at the television when the game pisses him off.  
“Fuck this shit!” he grabs for the remote.  
He starts changing the channel’s until he reaches the history channel, and sees them showing footage of the bombing at Nagasaki.  
“You were already dead before this shit happened huh?”  
Ian nods but is quiet for a long time after that. Mickey ends up turning to some old cartoons. He rubs at his eyes too drunk to think clearly. He looks down at Ian whose face is softly illuminated by the light.  
“You’re fucking beautiful sometimes, you know that?”  
Ian looks up at him, his expression unreadable. He reaches up his fingertips touching Mickey’s lips. Then he pulls away wrapping his arms around Mickey and pulling him down onto the bed.  
“You’re sauced, time to get some shut eye.” He tells him.  
“Don’t wanna sleep,” Mickey mumbles against his chest before snuggling closer.  
Mickey knows he fell in love with Ian the first time he'd seen him, but he doesn’t know what to do about it. There were so many problems with having these feelings.  
For one Ian was already in love with someone else and Mickey didn’t even know he could ever feel the same way. Second Ian was dead and has been for a very long time. So he was only setting himself for heartache either way.  
There was also so many other issues he had tried not let himself think about. So after the whole weed incident they hadn’t done much besides cuddling, which they did a lot of. Mickey wasn’t going to deny himself all the good stuff.  
People were starting to worry about him, because he didn’t want to do anything but stay locked inside his house with Ian. He was becoming a little obsessed and he knew it. Nobody understood what he was going through, they couldn't!  
So he just ignored them and let himself enjoy being in Ian’s company. He might be being selfish by not letting him move on, but he wasn’t ready to give him up. Not yet at least, one day he kept telling himself.

* * *

One afternoon he finds Ian back at the windowsill. He had stopped going there so often. It seemed like his own personal sanctuary so Mickey never went there.  
“Hey, you okay?”  
He jumps turning to Mickey surprised to see him there.  
“I didn’t hear you come in.”  
“What you thinking about?”  
“Nothing, you don’t want to hear about it.”  
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”  
Ian rubs his arm.  
“Michael.”  
Fucking Michael  
“See I told you, you didn’t want to hear about it”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Every time I mention him you get that look.”  
“What look?”  
“That look like you’re about to snap and slug someone.”  
Mickey thinks about that for a moment.  
“I do not! Why would I?”  
“You know why Mickey.”  
How obvious is he?  
“No, I don’t.”  
“Yes, you do.”  
“I think you’ve been dead for too long. You’re going crazy!”  
Ian abruptly stiffens  
“Wait I’m sorry! I didn’t mean...”  
Ian sighs.  
“You didn’t do anything wrong it’s just —“  
he’s quiet for a couple minutes, and pulls his knees to his chest.  
“Today is the day he died”  
“Oh, so he died October...”  
What is today again? Mickey tries to remember.  
“He died October 8th,1944.”  
Now Mickey just feels uncomfortable. He stands up and goes over to Ian pulling him into a hug but almost unexpectedly Ian breaks away. He rises to his knees almost shakily and kisses Mickey full on the lips.  
When they pull away Mickey is left staring at him momentarily puzzled and then he is grabbing him pulling into another a kiss.  
Ian is crying so they kiss softly and languidly just how Mickey knows Ian needs it to be, but as Ian’s crying becomes more desperate Mickey reluctantly lets go.  
Today is not the day for this. He doesn’t know if Ian is kissing him because he feels the same or if he just needs something to cling to. So he just kisses his forehead and holds him close until the sobs subside.

* * *

_Somewhere in Italy Michael sat holding an orange red flower that reminded him of Ian’s hair. Today was the day he had died he knew that much. He sees it on the papers of the townspeople as they walk by. Again he wondered how long he would have to be here, stuck in this form of non-existence. He looked back at the flower and thought about Ian. Where is he now? Did he fall in love again? Did he have a happy life? The same questions he asked himself all the time, but today on the same date as the day he knew he would never see him again, the questions were even more apparent.  
He falls back to the grass, closing his eyes and remembering better times. Late nights waiting for his father to be knocked out so they could steal his stash of whiskey. They would get lost until the morning and wake up wrapped up in each other’s arms.  
He remembered stolen kisses and secret smiles. He remembered his brothers ragging on him for being stuck on someone that they had no clue was right in front of them.  
He remembered his freckles and his smile, long embraces, and the light he had once held in his eyes. They had the whole world against them, but it wasn’t until the war that, that light had finally faded.  
Michael crushes the flower in the palm of his hand feeling the soft petals tear under his grasp. One day, he thinks, one day Ian, we’ll be together again._

* * *

“Oh, what do we have here?”  
Mickey jumps from the bed and looks quickly for a hiding place. Ian is instantly beside him.  
“What wrong? Who is that?”  
“My father.”  
Ian disappears. Great if it was only that easy for him.  
“Mickey where are you?” his father yells.  
Seemingly out of nowhere Ian appears back into the room.  
“He’s coming upstairs.”  
Almost on queue he hears many pairs of feet making their way upstairs.  
“How many are there?” Mickey asks Ian.  
“There’s an older man and three younger men.”  
It sounds like he had brought some of his brothers or cousins.  
“Mickey come out here now, or you won’t like it when I find you.”  
Ian looks back and forth from the door to Mickey.  
“Maybe you should go out.”  
Mickey flips him off and slides under the bed.  
Ian appears beside him.  
“Are we really hiding under a bed?”  
“No I’m hiding under a bed. He can’t even see you.”  
“Oh, right!”  
“Mickey!”  
They watch as multiple pairs of boots pass them.  
“He’s obviously not home,” one of his brothers tells their father.  
“We don’t even know if he still lives here,” says another.  
They hear the crunch of a beer can.  
“Oh, he’s here alright. We’re just going to have to wait until he gets back. We’re running short on cash. We’re going to need one of his spooks to get us some bank numbers.”  
They leave the room and Ian disappears again.  
Mickey takes a seat on his bed. What is he supposed to do now? Leave again? No, he can’t, Ian is here, but maybe he’ll come with him. Ian appears beside him on the bed.  
“They’re all downstairs they’re making a mess of the place and eating all your food. What do you want me to do?”  
“What do you mean, what do I want you to do? What can you do? None of your ghost shit is going to work! They have been around ghosts for years!”  
Ian shakes his head and vanishes yet again. He hears a sound downstairs and then his father’s loud voice.  
“Come on boys let’s go. We’ll get him another time.” The front door slams. Mickey runs to the window and sees them leaving.  
“See?” says a voice into his ear, he jumps.  
Ian starts laughing.  
“What the hell! How did you do that?”  
Ian gives him a smug grin.  
“Maybe it's best you don’t know”  
Not even thinking about what he’s doing Mickey grabs him and kisses him. Ian lets out a sound of surprise, but kisses him back.  
They get lost in each other and Mickey loses all ability to think until Ian is pulling away.  
Fuck, Mickey thinks. Here we go with Michael again, but that’s not what happens.  
“Are you sure about this? You can always find someone that’s still alive.”  
Mickey only takes a second to think about this.  
“Positive.”  
He pulls him close again, and pushes him down unto the bed.  
They fall on top of each other laughing, Mickey takes his head into his hands and kisses him, gently biting at his lip. Ian arches up to meet his kisses, licking into his mouth.  
Like before the kisses were cold and not what Mickey was accustomed to, but they made him feel all tingly inside and he decided he liked them just as much, if not more because kissing Ian felt right.  
So badly he wanted to touch Ian to feel his skin under his hands to explore every inch of his body, but he couldn’t and he never will. They couldn’t have sex like normal people. Ian was forever stuck in the clothes he had died in. So instead Mickey kissed his neck, kissed his jaw and his face everywhere it was possible to taste the skin of the man beneath him.  
Ian had no problem touching Mickey. His hands roamed under his shirt and over his back. His nails leaving scratches, that Mickey wondered for an instant if anybody else could see.  
Mickey breaks away from him to remove his shirt. Ian’s lips go to his chest and briefly his finger hovers over a weird scar on his chest that he’s had for as long as he can remember. Ian smile’s briefly and kisses it.  
Then he’s flipping Mickey onto his back and kissing him down his chest to his stomach stopping again when he notices Mickey’s birthmark. Ian’s eyes widen and Mickey feels a little insecure until Ian kisses it as well, running his tongue over it.  
“Fuck,” Mickey grunts.  
Ian smiles.  
“Pants,” he demands, voice husky.  
Mickey nods and shoves his pants down and throws them off the bed.  
Ian makes his way down further.

* * *

“So yeah ghosts don’t need lube or have gag reflexes.”  
Mandy stares at him aghast  
“Wow, I don’t even know what to say to that. I don’t know if that’s actually kind of cool or really disturbing.”  
“Why would it be disturbing?”  
She looks at him like he’s stupid  
“Because! You fucked a ghost Mickey!”  
“Not technically more like I was blown and finger banged by a ghost.”  
She shudders.  
“Still what would that even look like, and when you came did it just go right out the back of his head?”  
Mickey gives her a disgusted look  
“Jesus Christ Mandy! Why did you have to put it that way?”  
“Mickey seriously do you really not understand how fucked up this is?”  
“I think I’m in love with him.”  
“You think you’re in love with him?” she shrieks. “God, Mickey, he’s dead! It’s like you're some type of necrophiliac!”  
“Hey! It isn’t like that at all!”  
“Then what is it like?”  
“I can touch him and feel him just like I can anyone else.”  
“That doesn’t make it right!”  
“I know, it’s beyond fucked up but I love him and you can’t choose who you fall in love with!”  
“What about when he passes Mickey? What are you going to do then?”  
“He isn’t going to pass.”  
“Don’t you think that’s a little selfish of you? You can’t make him stay here forever. It’s not only bad for him, but for you as well. What happens when you start to get older and he stay’s 19? You can’t have a real relationship like this.”  
“You just want me to get together with your friend.”  
“Yes my friend who is alive, and guess what he’s a redhead too just like your ghost, and hey they even have the same name, but you know what you’re shit out of luck with him anyways. He went backpacking in Europe for a while.”  
“No shit, how did he afford that?”  
“Shit, if I know but he just said he had to get away and find himself or something.”  
“That’s cool.”  
They sit there in awkward silence for a while then Mandy stands up putting out her cigarette.  
“You know what Mick? I think these ghosts have finally made you lose your mind! Nice knowing you Mickey I’ll try my best to visit you in the psyche ward.”  
“Oh, fuck off!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Ian**

Ian Gallagher had been able to see ghost’s since he was 7 and Frank had let him drown while he got drunk. He was dead for only 1 minute and 36 seconds, but he had been able to see ghost’s ever since.  
He kept this mostly to himself only his brother Lip and best friend Mandy knew about it.  
Lip found out one day while he was working. An old drunk that used to live around there liked spending his night’s laying around the store because nobody noticed, but one night Ian was trying to study and the guy wouldn’t shut up. So he went over and started yelling at him to get out. He hadn’t heard his brother come in so he continued his ranting.  
“Get your ass out of this store before I have you exorcised! I’m not kidding this time, Harold!”  
The ghost muttered to himself about rotten kids as he made his way out through the freezers. Ian turned to go back to his work when he saw Lip staring at him.  
“Oh shit!” He said a cigarette dangling from his lips. “You can see ghosts!”  
“What are you talking about? No!”  
Lip laughs.  
“Okay, so you’re just crazy and were yelling at yourself?”  
Ian sighed and told him the whole story.  
Mandy found out in school. They had snuck into the bathroom for a smoke break.  
Mandy had been complaining about her brother and it just came out.  
“I just feel so invisible sometimes you know? Mickey’s the special one so he’s like the only one they care about.”  
“Or just the one they think they can get the most out of. Did you ever ask how he feels?”  
She shrugs  
“It’s Mickey he just acts like it’s a job!”  
“Yeah, but it has to bother him you know. Doing what he does and seeing what he does. Having to deal with it all.”  
“I guess.”  
Ian looks down at the floor.  
“Do you think if he found someone who was like him. He could help them with it?”  
“Like who? You know another ghost whisper?”  
She starts to laugh but stops when she looks at him.  
She pushes him.  
“Get the fuck out of here! It’s you isn’t it?”  
He nods.  
“You fucker! Why haven’t you ever told me?”  
“Because I don’t tell anybody and it’s crazy.”  
“You are telling this to a girl whose brother has seen them since he was born.”  
“It’s not the same, he’s different. He can actually help them! All I can do is see them, and try to get them to leave me alone.”  
Her mouth drops open.  
“Oh my god Ian, you’re gay and he’s gay”  
“Yeah so?”  
“And you can both see ghosts! Oh my god, it’s like you guys were made for each other!”  
“Mandy no! You are so not going to try and hook me up with your brother!”  
“Why not?”  
“It’s weird and he’s your brother it would be like hooking up with you?”  
“What would be wrong with that?”  
“Nothing, but you are my best friend! What if things didn’t work out?”  
“Bad excuse Gallagher seeing that I’ve already hooked up with your brother.”  
“Yeah and look how that turned out! You can’t even go over my house without it being awkward!”  
“Yeah, but Mickey is never at my house!”  
“Mandy just no, okay!”  
She takes a seat sighing  
“Okay, but it will happen one day! I just know it!”  
He ignores her.

* * *

Ian's on the phone with Mandy and jumps up when she tells him about Mickey.  
“You gotta be shitting me?”  
“No, the idiot actually thinks he’s in love with a ghost.”  
He laughs, he had really dodged a bullet with that one.  
“That’s fucking crazy!”  
“Tell me about it, but I think he’s just lonely or some shit. So when are you coming back?”  
“Oh, I see what this is! You just want me home to make your ghost loving brother less lonely.”  
“Yes that and I miss you! This place sucks without you!”  
“It sucks anyway.”  
“Right.”  
“So why don’t you just come out here and join me? It will be fun!”  
“Would love to, but I don’t have any sugar daddy to send me to Europe.”  
“Hey, it wasn’t like that! It was more like here take this credit card and tickets and please don’t say anything to my wife.”  
Mandy laughs.  
“God, you’re such a whore!”  
“Says Mandy Milkovich!”  
“Hey!”  
They talk a little bit longer before their calling card runs out. He promises to get another and they hang up.

* * *

It was really stupid he knew. Why would someone who can sees ghost’s walk through somewhere that was so extremely haunted?  
World War 2 had always fascinated him though. He always wished he could be a solider but ROTC was as close as he was ever going to get.  
The thought of having to see the ghosts of friends and other soldiers you fought beside was horrifying, but it wasn’t like this isn’t horrifying in itself. These men didn’t even have a choice in those days. Now they were all dead and stuck in his place where they gave their last breath.  
He tries not to make eye contact with any of them. He doesn’t want any of them to know that he can see him, but he feels it immediately that he’s being watched. He turns just slightly to see who it is and sees a ghost staring straight at him. An awestruck expression crosses the ghost’s face and Ian can swear he mouths his name.  
Now this was starting to get freaky and ghosts don’t even scare him anymore. He turns away quickly and starts walking faster. He can hear the ghost footsteps following him, seeming to get closer and closer. He starts running but they don’t stop.  
“IAN!” the ghost calls.  
Ian comes to a screeching halt. Out of breath he looks around noticing nobody watching he turns towards his pursuer.  
“Look, I don’t know what you want or how you know my name, but I don’t know who you are! Of course I don’t you died in World War 2, and If anybody sees me talking to you they are going to think I’m crazy and lock me up. So I’m just going to go.”  
He starts to leave but is grabbed by the shoulder.  
“Ian, wait!” He turns around slowly looking at the guys hand on his shoulder. The ghost’s hand! That’s on his shoulder, what in the hell?  
He looks back the guy and is briefly transfixed by his beautiful blue eyes and is hit by a wave of Déjà vu. He grabs for his head.  
“Woah.”  
He looks at the guy again.  
“Wait, do I know you? You seem really familiar, oh my god!” he turns away quickly embarrassed.  
“You’re not dead are you?”  
The guy laughs and Ian decides he really loves the sound of his laugh.  
“No, I’m dead.”  
“Then how did you just touch me?”  
“I don’t know.”  
Ian looks him up and down to make sure he isn’t messing with him and damn this guy is really hot and okay, he is now checking out a ghost, that’s just great!  
The guy reaches out and touches his cheek.  
“I can’t believe you found me.”  
Ian stumbles backwards.  
“What is wrong with you? And why haven’t you answered my question? How do you know who I am?”  
“Because I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember.”

* * *

Ian’s fingers tap on his glass as he looks at the ghost: Michael. Who is now sitting across from him at the small table in his room.  
“Let me see if I understand you correctly. You think I’m this other Ian that you were in love with when you were alive?”  
“I know you are.”  
“How?”  
“You don’t feel it?”  
“Feel what?”  
“Like you know me even though I’ve been dead for the past 70 years?”  
Ian squirms in his seat.  
“Yeah, a little.”  
Michael looks him up and down.  
“You are so perfect.”  
Ian can feel his face getting warm.  
“Uh, thanks.”  
Michael laughs.  
“I’m about to send you into a bender, aren’t I?”  
“A what?”  
He wonders how long it’s going to take for the guy to stop staring at him like he’s the best thing in the world it’s a little unnerving.  
“You are about to get drunk aren’t you?”  
“That’s a good possibility.”  
Michael reaches out his fingers stroking the back of Ian’s hand. Ian wants to pull away, but something is stopping him.  
“How is this even happening? Not long ago I was thinking about being reunited with you again and then there you were right in front of me, but you are alive and still as young as the last time I seen you. So you aren’t the same, but still it’s you! Everything is the same even the way you act.”  
Ian shrugs.  
“Maybe I just look like him.”  
Michael shakes his head.  
“No, it’s not that simple there’s something else there. If you only look like him why is everything else still the same? It’s almost as if —“  
He stops.  
“Like I was reborn?” Ian tries.  
He was only throwing things out there, but the way Michael is looking at him is telling him that, that is exactly what he’s thinking.  
“Really? That’s what you think this is?”  
“What else can it be?”  
Ian shrugs again.  
“Maybe I’m just related to him or something.”  
Michael thinks about that for an instant, then quickly dismisses it.  
“It just seems so much more than that, but I’m scaring you, so let’s start over: My name is Michael Milkovich.”  
Ian lets out a laugh.  
“Are you serious?”  
“What’s wrong?”  
“It’s just that’s my best friends last name.”  
Michael raises an eyebrow.  
“Really? And you think that’s just a coincidence?”  
Ian has to give it to him he has a point.  
"I guess it would have to be a really big one if it is.”  
“You don’t even live here do you? You don’t sound Italian. “  
“No, I’m just visiting. I’m from Chicago.”  
This weird look crosses his eyes and Ian is afraid he’s going to kiss him, but only a little afraid because he was still really cute.  
“That’s where I’m from. You can’t tell me this doesn’t seem more to you! This is too much to be just a coincidence. Something made you visit Italy and find me.”  
Yeah, this married guy I was hooking up with, Ian wants to say, but thinks better of it. This Michael guy doesn’t seem like he would like that very much.  
“Okay so let’s say I believe you. I’m this other Ian guy reborn. What makes you think you haven’t been reborn as well?”  
Michael thinks about that for a long time. So long that Ian starts messing with his cell phone.  
When Michael talks again Ian is in the middle of a game of bejeweled blitz.  
“Will I still be here if there was another me out there?”  
Ian shrugs this is all too confusing for him.  
“I don’t know, but if you think that way then that means your Ian must have moved on a while ago. At least 20 years ago for me to be born.”  
Michael nods solemnly.  
“That could be true, but I didn’t even know about any of this until I saw you.”  
Ian leans in closer turning off his game and laying the phone on the table.  
“What was that like? You seemed so calm. I was freaking out more than you were and you thought you were seeing somebody you haven’t seen in 70 years.”  
“At first I was in shock, but as you kept running away and I got closer I knew you were different. He would’ve never run away from me.”  
Ian sits back feeling a little shitty.  
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, I’m just not used to ghosts acting that way.”  
“It didn’t hurt my feelings, it just opened my eyes to the truth. As I talked to you I knew you two were connected, and you freaking out was really cute actually. I had a really big urge to kiss you, just to stop you! It always worked with him, but I was afraid you would really snap if I did that.”  
Yeah he probably would have, well maybe.  
“So what do you want from me?”  
That sounded rude, he back-pedals.  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. What I meant was, what do you want to do now?”

* * *

Michael had ended up bringing him to a hypnotherapist of all things.  
“No way! I’m not going in there!” Ian protests.  
Michael just stares at him still not getting what the problem is.  
“How are we supposed to know the truth?”  
“You said you can tell just by looking at me. I believe you okay so let’s not go in here.”  
“What are you so afraid of?”  
Ian throws his arms up in the air.  
“Everything okay, what if this does really work I don’t want to see my past deaths. I don’t want to know the answers to why my life is so fucked up!”  
Michael takes his face into his hands.  
“If you don’t want to go in there it’s fine we’ll find another way. Okay?”  
Ian nods.  
The door opens and a woman exits and looks at both of them. Hey eyes widen and she runs back inside.  
“Did she just see me?” Michael asks.  
“I think so.”  
They rush into the place to find her. The woman is not far inside shuffling through papers.  
“How did you two find each other? You weren’t supposed to meet each other!”  
She doesn’t even look up, but they know she’s talking to them.  
The lady is wearing sandals, a long dress and has long brown hair all the way down her back.  
“Are you the hypnotherapist?” Ian asked her.  
She laughs.  
“Not really.”  
“Then who are you?” Michael asks, “and what do you mean?”  
She finally looks up at them.  
“I call myself a psychic, but we all know it’s something much more than that.”  
She gestures to them.  
“I can read you two like a book and like I said before this. You two seeing each other and meeting in the first place is not supposed to happen. Somebody messed up somewhere.”  
They stare at her waiting for her to continue once she realizes this she sighs.  
“Okay, so I’m guessing you two have found out your soul companions by now. That’s why you’re here?”  
The both nod.  
“Well, I bet that was interesting for dead boy over here!”  
“Look lady, I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but can you let us know why this is wrong and what’s going on?” Ian asks her.  
“Some people in life are lucky enough to have a soul mate. That no matter what happens in life you will eventually find each other. You will always be a part of each others lives. I can see just by looking at you that you have already spent many lives together. There was even another one between the time you died,” she points to Michael, “and he was born,” she point’s to Ian. “Yes! I believe so.”  
“So I was reborn while I was still here?” Michael asks her.  
“Yes, twice! That’s one of the reason’s this is so wrong. You are not supposed to find your soulmate in a past form.”  
She looks at Ian.  
“You were supposed to be with him by now, but he’s the problem. Something isn’t right. I just don’t know what.”  
“So, could that be the reason he is here with me. So he knows to fix it?”  
Michael asks. “I really don’t know, but this is wrong!”  
After that she doesn’t tell them much more. So they leave with more questions than ever before.

* * *

Once they walk back into Ian’s hotel room Michael grabs him and kisses him. Ian breaks away with a moan as Michael’s hand runs down his pants.  
“What are you doing?”  
“You found me! I don’t care what the reason is. I’m not letting you go."  
This is so wrong, but his hands feel really good as they run over his skin and who knew how good it would feel for a ghost to kiss you?  
“She said something is wrong with your Michael or whoever he is. So just stay with me.”  
Ian lets him kiss him some more, because really what can it hurt. He has to admit this is the best kiss he’s ever had. This all just feels so right.

* * *

“You’re still in Italy?” Mandy asks baffled.  
“Yes.”  
“Why?”  
He thinks how to answer that.  
“I’ve kind of met someone.”  
“Well, come on are you going to tell me about him?”  
He looks over at Michael.  
“Well he has black hair and really nice blue eyes”  
She laughs.  
“Oh god you’ve got to be kidding me. So my brother falls in love with a guy who looks just like you and now you’re falling for a guy who looks like him?”  
“Really? He looks like that?”  
“You’ve never seen my brother before?”  
“No, not really.”  
She laughs again.  
“So that just means you are each other’s types! So ditch the Italian guy and get here before my brother loses it over this ghost!”  
If only it were that easy.

* * *

**Mickey**

Ian lies on his chest tracing that scar again.  
“Mickey, have you ever really looked at this scar?”  
“I don’t know maybe, why?”  
“It kind of looks like an I.G. doesn’t it.” Mickey looks down, but where his laying it’s hard to tell.  
“Does it?”  
Ian nods.  
“And this looks like a heart,” his finger traces the skin.  
Suddenly Mickey vision clouds over and he’s hit with a vision  
 _[He unbuttons his shirt showing off his new tattoo. Ian rushes to him touching it lightly.  
The tattoo was of a heart with a beautiful I.G. scripted in the middle.  
“When did you get this?”  
He takes Ian’s hand, kisses it.  
“If I get drafted at least I can show everybody who my heart belongs too”]_  
Mickey jumps.  
“IAN!”  
“What? What’s wrong?”  
He sits up  
“Ian do you have feelings for me or do you think I’m Michael?”  
Ian laughs, but it sounds kind of strangled.  
“Why would I think that?”  
“Because I just had a vision of you and Michael!”  
“What? You can do that?”  
“Sometimes when I touch things or —“ He looks down at his chest and back up at Ian.  
“Ian, he got a tattoo for you right before he left for war, right here!” He points to his scar on his chest.  
“It was your initials and a heart”  
“I remember” Ian says looking down.  
“You were just asking me if I thought my scar looked just like that”  
Ian flinches.  
Mickey sits up and pulls on his t-shirt then reaches for his phone.  
He needs to call Lip, he finds him under contacts and calls his number getting his voicemail.  
“Hey Lip, its Mickey call me when you get this I need you to look something up for me.”

* * *

Ian paces around as Lip looks at the computer and Mickey looks through some old newspapers.  
“Mickey, don’t do this!” Ian pleads.  
“I need to!”  
Frustrated Ian slumps into the chair next to him.  
“I will stop if you can honestly tell me when you look at me it isn’t him you see.”  
He’s quiet.  
“I’m not Michael, Ian!”  
“Yeah, but you could have been,” this comes from Lip he’s looking at Mickey intently then point’s to the screen.  
Mickey gets out of his chair and walks towards him, and right there on the screen sitting on a fence with a cigarette in his mouth surrounded by two others is his own face staring back at him.  
“What the fuck?”  
“Yes, what the fuck indeed,” Lip agrees.  
Mickey looks back at Ian who's staring at the screen motionless. He blinks back tears and disappears.  
“So what does he have to say about this?” Lip asks.  
“Nothing, he disappeared.”  
“How convenient, but Mick look at this.”  
He points to the screen again and the words printed under the picture ‘listed left to right `Andrew Milkovich, Michael Milkovich, Isaac Milkovich’  
“He’s in your family,” says Lip, “and that might be the only reason I look like him.”  
“Exactly, do you want me to look up Ian next?”  
“I don’t even know his last name. Actually I don’t know hardly anything about him.”

* * *

Ian was gone for three weeks after that and Mickey was starting to believe he crossed over. The pain in his chest grew every day it felt like he had lost his other half which is crazy, but he is really starting to believe Ian’s crazy theory that he used to be Michael.  
When Ian returns one Tuesday morning it just like he imagined it would be him sleeping and Ian staring at him.  
Mickey jumps  
“What the fuck?”  
“Hey Mick!”  
“Where the hell have you been?”  
And how did you not crossover without me holding you back? He thinks.  
“Around,” is all he replies.  
He takes Mickey’s hand.  
“I know you’re not Michael. I admit at first I was a little obsessed with you because you look so much like him, but then I started to like you as Mickey.”  
Mickey moves to sit next to him.  
“I get it okay, yeah, I felt used at first, but I have to admit this is all really strange.”  
“Strange? Mickey please, don’t leave, I don’t want you to feel strange!”  
“That’s not what I meant calm down, damn,” he shakes his head before continuing.  
“Okay maybe I should get the least weird part out of the way. I had read something about Michael after you left. He’s like my great uncle so that could be why I look like him.”  
Ian nods.  
“That makes sense.”  
“That’s not the weirdest part though! I used a marker and traced over my scar while looking in the mirror, and you were right it looks just like the tattoo and here,” he points to where his birthmark is.  
“Is where he got shot isn’t it?”  
Ian considers that a minute.  
“I assume.”  
“Also you feel it right? Our connection? Since the very first day I felt like I knew you.”  
“So what are you saying? You really think you’re a reincarnation of him?”  
“I don’t know, but there are too many coincidences.”  
Ian thinks really hard about it and is quiet for a while then really quietly he asks:  
“Mickey, if you are a reincarnation does that mean I have one too or are you only here because he passed on?”  
“I don’t know, but if I am, fate has a really fucked up way in bringing people back together.”  
Ian kisses him.  
“Let’s just be happy it did, but Mickey can you promise me one thing?”  
“What?”  
“If there is a reincarnation of me out there please don’t leave me for him.”  
“Why would I do that?”  
“Isn’t it obvious he’s alive and we’re soulmates! That’s how we found each other again! So if there is a reincarnation he’s the one who belongs with you.”  
That thought had never come to him before.  
“Ian what’s your last name?”  
“Gallagher.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Ian**

Ian wakes and finds Michael sitting at the table reading a large book. Curious how that is possible he asks. “Hey where did that come from?” Michael looks up and smiles at him.  
He jumps up from his chair to give Ian a kiss bringing the book with him.  
“I stole it from that Psychic lady”  
“How are you able to hold it?”  
“I don’t know, but I wanted to see if it could tell us anymore.”  
Ian peeks down at it.  
“And?”  
“I can leave so you don‘t have to stay in Italy I can go back home with you.”  
“That’s good because this is starting to get expensive, but what if I find my soul mate?”  
Michael stiffens so Ian decides to change the subject.  
“What else does it say?”  
“It say’s um” he stops for a long moment. “You can access past memories”  
Ian jumps away.  
“No,no,no!”  
Michael gives him an exasperated look.  
“It can be worth a try”  
“For whose benefit yours?”  
Michael put’s the book down and moves closer.  
“I just need to know some things that’s all”  
“Like what?”  
He shift’s uncomfortably.  
“I want to know how he died and if he married my sister?”  
Ian starts laughing, but stops when he sees Michael’s face.  
“Your sister? He was going to marry you sister what? That’s fucked up”  
Michael smiles then, it’s small, but he seems amused.  
“We really have to work on your language, but things were different back then. So can you just go in and see.”  
Ian grabs his phone.  
“See we have this amazing thing now called the internet where we can find things like this out. There’s no need to go back in the past. What was your sister’s name and when was Ian born?”  
“Laura and July 23rd, 1925”  
Ian calls his brother. Lip answers after only a couple of rings.  
“Oh look who decides to call me”  
“I’m sorry, but I need you to look something up for me.”  
“I’m starting to feel really used.”  
“Lip, please.”  
“Okay, what?”  
“So there was another Ian Gallagher.”  
Lip sounds like he almost chokes, and then in the background he can hear him talking to somebody.  
“Who are you talking to?”  
“It’s nothing, so tell me what you want with this other Ian?”  
“Can you find out how he died and if he married a girl named Laura Milkovich?”  
Now Lip starts laughing uncontrollably.  
“Man, when are you coming back because do I have things to tell you?” Lip says.  
“I don’t know, just look.”  
“I don’t need to I just did.”  
“What?”  
“Yeah he was never married and do you want the gory details?”  
“The gory details? What do you mean?”  
He looks over at Michael who eyes go wide.  
“No, not right now”  
“Okay so let’s just say he drank himself to death.”  
“Shit”  
“Why do you want to know?”  
“For a friend.”  
He hears the person in the background again.  
“Ian is your friends name Michael?”  
“How do you know that?”  
There’s a string of cuss words from the other person.  
“Ian come home as soon as you can”  
Ian hangs up the phone and looks at Michael who sits stoned face on the chair.  
“Did you hear that?”  
Michael nods.  
“I mean right before I died he told me he wasn’t going to marry her, but I wasn’t sure if it changed after I died. To think he died like that”  
Ian receives a text from Lip with more information.  
“Michael, he died May 16th, 1945 not long after you. I know this is messed up, but it also kind of romantic in a way.”  
Michael lets out a harsh laugh.  
“I don’t know I think I’d rather he married Laura.”  
Ian shakes his head.  
“That would have been a bad idea. He’s my great uncle so that would have made her my aunt and this” he motions between the two of them, “would have been even weirder.”  
Michael looks up at him horrified. Then something dawns on him and he launches himself at Ian kissing him hard almost bruising.  
“What’s going on?”  
Michael shakes his head and kisses him some more.

* * *

**Mickey**

_  
Michael, Ian and two others are lounging around a tent. It’s dark so it must be sometime during the night Ian is cleaning some kind of weapon and Michael keeps slipping glances at him and Ian gives him sly smiles back.  
“Did you see those girls?” says a man next to the tent flap.  
Ian glances up at him.  
“What about your wife?”  
“Who knows what she’s doing she hasn’t even written me in months. Not everybody is as lucky as you, Ian.”  
Michael shoot’s Ian a look.  
“What does he mean?”  
He tries to look more like a jilted friend and less jealous.  
“Whose been writing you and why didn’t you tell me about it.”  
The guy jumps and grabs the bag behind Ian. Ian lunges to grab it from him, but the other guy is closer. He pulls a letter out and smells it.  
“Oh smells pretty”  
“Give it back!” Ian demands.  
Michael grabs it from him and reads the front.  
“Laura! My Laura has been writing you?”  
Ian sits up.  
“It’s not what you think.”  
The other guys laugh.  
“Shit you stole you best friend’s girl?”  
Michael glares at them.  
“It’s my sister.”  
One guy lets out a whistle.  
“Even worse.”  
Michael grabs Ian and drags him out.  
Once far enough away from the others he turns on Ian.  
“What’s going on?”  
“Nothing she just likes to write me. She thinks everybody deserves somebody to write them.”  
“That’s what you have a family for.”  
Ian grabs Michael's face.  
“I love you more than anything in the world. She means nothing to me!”  
Michael leans in to kiss his mouth.  
“I’m sorry it’s just I know how she feels about you, and when you weren’t here I heard about all these marriages and I thought —“  
He can’t even say it. Ian sighs.  
“She was the only one who knew about us. So after you left she was the only one I could really talk to.”  
Michael shudders remembering the day she found out.  
“I’m so sick of this! I want to be with you. I don’t want to do this anymore.” Ian says.  
“Ian, you know we can’t tell anybody.”  
“I heard of places in the city that would accept us.”  
Michael shakes his head.  
“I don’t know. It would ruin our life!”  
Ian pulls away from him abruptly.  
“So what you just want to hide our whole lives. Maybe marrying women and sneaking around.”  
Michael looks like he’s going to be sick.  
“No, you aren’t marrying anybody.”  
“Oh and you are?”  
“I didn’t mean that.”  
“You think nobody is going to think it’s weird that we only spend time with each other and never get married?”  
“I don’t know!”  
They hear a noise.  
“Look we’ll talk about this later okay.”  
Ian only turns away from him angry, and leaves back to the tent.  
-  
The dream shifts to daylight. Ian had pulled away from Michael in anger. Michael doesn’t know what to do to make it better. His mind is preoccupied so he doesn’t sense the enemies so he’s caught off guard when a bullet flies toward him. He winces when he’s sure he’s about to be hit, but nothing happens. That’s when he notices Ian in front of him bloody. The sound of shooting surrounds them, but Michael only cares about one thing he drops next to Ian. The whole world goes still Michael grabs him wrapping his body in his arms.  
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispers.  
Ian gives him a shaky laugh.  
“For you.”  
“Why did you do that?”  
“I love you!”  
Blood falls from Ian’s mouth Michael leans down to kiss him not caring who sees.  
“You’re going to be okay!”  
Ian touches his face.  
-  
Ian survives but is sent back home. No longer deemed fit enough to fight. Michael's left crushed and lost. He misses having him there with him, but he’s happy he’s safe. It takes few months until he hears anything about him and it comes from his sister. He had read the postcard a million times, but it still didn’t make sense.  
“Dear Michael I hope everything is well. I’m getting married in August to Ian. I know that this must be hard for you, but you have to understand that you two couldn’t have a future. I’m sorry. I love you and I hope you won’t hate me for this, but since Ian returned home things have been different. I hope you can make it.”  
It says more, but he doesn’t care. He smashes the postcard in his hand and throws it into the fire.  
He turns into a zombie no longer able to feel anything but the pain. He hears the other’s whisper about him, but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about anything anymore. Part of him wants to walk into the gun fire, but he hesitates hoping that if only he could get home in time he could fix this. He waits until he hears from Ian it comes a couple weeks later.  
“Michael, I’m sure by now you had heard the news. In no way does this affect how I feel about you, but I must do this. I will always love you.  
I.G.”  
This card he keeps close by.  
“What do you do when the one you love is marrying someone else?” he asks his friend one night.  
“Fight to get home to them before they do, that’s all you can do.”_

_He hears his friend tell the others they all seem sympathetic. Of course all thinking it’s a girl and not the guy they all knew. He writes Ian a million times with threats, but he never can send them. What if something happens to him? He doesn’t want Ian to blame himself, but he broke him and he wants him to hurt like he is._

_One day he receives one more postcard. He reads it over and over again with a smile on his face and kisses it.  
“Michael, the wedding is off I couldn’t marry her while still loving you. Your family hates me, but I think I can manage. Every night I dream about you and I can’t wait until you are back in in my arms.  
I.G.”  
He didn’t know that would be his last day.  
They say your last thoughts are the most important in your life so he thinks of Ian and before it all ends a soft Ian is whispered from his lips._

Mickey wakes covered in sweat immediately Ian is there to console him.  
“What’s wrong?”  
Mickey turns to Ian unsure of what to say and then finally he asks  
“Ian were you ever getting married?” Ian shifts uncomfortable.  
“Once to Michael’s sister why?”  
“Because I seen it, but it wasn’t like Michael was reading the postcards and letters it was me. I was reliving his memories. I was there when he died. “  
Ian backs away from him like he had been burned.  
“It was all my fault wasn’t it? He thought I betrayed him!”  
“Yeah, I mean yeah he felt betrayed, but he got your last postcard. He was so happy! It wasn’t your fault he died.”  
Ian slumps down onto his window seat.  
“All these years I thought he didn’t know I called it off.”  
“Ian, he died in war, how could you ever think it was your fault?”  
“Because it happened right after he found out. Laura blamed herself too. I heard she was inconsolable for days after finding out he died. They said she kept screaming out his name and yelling she was sorry.”  
“How did she know? In my dream I seen a conversation where you said she was the only one who knew the truth, but how?”  
“She caught us.”  
“Oh.”  
Ian nods. Then he thinks for a moment leans over and touches Mickey’s temple and just like that he was back in the dream, but it was before the war.

_Ian and Michael are laying in the grass kissing. Ian pulls away grabbing his face and looks at him.  
“So how does it feel being 18?”  
“The same as 17, now give me my present.”  
He pulls Ian back to him kissing him long and slow. Ian reaches for the buckle of his pants Michael lifts his hips to give him better access. One of his hands slide under Ian’s shirt and he pulls his body hard against his. A sharp gasp and scream has them pulling apart. She looks young about 15 or sixteen and is really pretty with golden blonde hair and Hazel eyes.  
“Laura” Michael breaths shocked.  
She lets out a cry and runs off. Ian gets off of him.  
“Do you want me to talk to her?” he asks.  
Michael shakes his head.  
“No, she’s my sister.”  
He finds her crying a half of mile away. She looks up at him and turns away quickly.  
“I’m such an idiot” she tells him without looking at him.  
“You both must think I’m a fool.”  
Michael sits down beside her.  
“For what? Falling for Ian? No, I can’t blame you.”  
She gives him an annoyed look.  
“So this whole time you and him have been —“she can’t even finish.  
She shudders slightly.  
“I know it’s hard to understand, but I love him. You can’t tell anybody.”  
“Why would I? So you can be treated like those others” She still won’t say the word, but he knows she understands.  
“You’re still my brother and I love you even though you’re different.”  
He laughs.  
“Different? I suppose that’s a way to put it.”_

Mickey jerks  
“Ian, what the hell did you just do?”  
“What happened?”  
“I just seen her catching you.”  
Ian looks down at his hands.  
“So that did work.”  
“Where did you get that Idea?”  
“I don’t know. I just thought about it.”  
Mickey moves away from him.  
“Well, don’t do it again”  
-  
The next day he sneaks out while Ian is busy with the iPad. Since finding out Ian’s last name the day before he can’t stop thinking about it and the Gallaghers. Especially one Gallagher. What would the odds be that the one Gallagher with the same name is the one he is meant to be with? He knows Ian didn’t want him to look for his soulmate, but he had to. No matter how much of a connection he feels to Ian something seems to be missing and experiencing those memories makes him want to have that sort of love. His whole life he’s felt so alone Ian made it better, but now the loneliness was creeping back slowly. Lip met up with him again.  
“I found out Ian’s last name.”  
“Cool, let’s look him up.”  
Mickey is quiet for a moment.  
“It’s Ian Gallagher.”  
Lips flips his chair around to look at him.  
“What?”  
“Yeah, but there has to be more Gallaghers than your family right?”  
“Yes,but it’s just weird he has the same name as my brother.”  
“I know, can you just look and see if you have any more Ian’s in your family?”  
Lip turns back to the computer. It takes him about 10 minutes before he turns back to Mickey his eyes wide with shock or excitement.  
“Oh shit!” Lip finally says.  
“What?”  
Get this I went back for a while, and your Ian was born July 23rd, 1925 he died May 16th,1945  
On that same day a Landen Gallagher was born! He died August 11th 1996. That’s the day my brother was born! This is either the weirdest shit I have ever seen or somebody has really messed with my family tree. It doesn’t even begin there. This has been happening since at least the 1800’s. It doesn’t have much information before that.”  
Mickey almost forgets to breathe for a moment.  
“Lip where is your brother right now?”  
“Still in Italy.”  
“Can I see his picture?”  
Lip pulls out his phone.  
There’s a picture of Mandy air kissing the cheek of a guy that looks just like Ian. Mickey falls to the floor. All this time Mandy has been trying to get them to meet and Mickey was too stupid to listen.  
“Fuck, Mickey are you okay?”  
Mickey shakes his head.  
Lip looks back to computer.  
“Ugh Mickey, Ian lied to you.”  
Mickey looks up still dazed.  
“Huh?”  
“He didn’t die from an infection.”  
“How did he die?”  
“There’s these places where people posted letters gathered up throughout the years and according to a letter his sister wrote to somebody named Laura he choked on his own blood. She say’s something about the alcohol finally getting to him. So I’m guessing he drank himself to death. Sounds like the rest of my family.”  
“He was heartbroken, and blamed himself for Michael’s death.”  
“Oh well, that sucks.”  
Mickey stands up on shaky legs and hands Lip back his phone.  
“You want to hear something crazy Lip?”  
“More crazy then all of this? I suppose.”  
“The ghost looks identical to your brother. He’s his reincarnation.”  
Lip just stares at him and then his phone goes off.  
“Speaking of my brother.”  
He shows Mickey whose calling then answers it.  
“Oh, look who decides to call me.”  
Lip seems to try his best to keep his voice sounding collected, but he looks at Mickey uneasily. Mickey leans in closer so he can hear. Lip swats him away.  
“I’m sorry, but I need you to look something up for me,” says Ian.  
Lip rolls his eyes and mouths 'you two'.  
“Lip, please.”  
“Okay, what?”  
“So, there was another Ian Gallagher.”  
Lip almost chokes Mickey slaps his back.  
“Did he just say another Ian Gallagher? He knows about him?”  
Lip nods.  
“Yes shit, this is getting to fucking weird.”  
“Who are you talking to?” asks Ian.  
Lip composes himself.  
“It’s nothing. So, tell me what you want with this other Ian?”  
“Can you find out how he died and if he married a girl named Laura Milkovich”  
Lip starts laughing. He looks at Mickey.  
“He was marrying another Milkovich?” he whispers.  
Mickey nods.  
“Man, when are you coming back because do I have things to tell you?” Lip says.  
Mickey hits him.  
“I don’t know, just look.”  
“I don’t need to I just did.”  
“What?”  
“Yeah he was never married, and do you want the gory details?”  
“The gory details? What do you mean?”  
Lips starts to answer, but Ian cuts him off.  
“No, not right now.”  
“Okay, so let’s just say he drank himself to death.”  
“Shit.”  
Now Lip is trying to ignore Mickey but he’s rubbing his temple.  
“Why do you want to know?” Lip asks.  
“For a friend.”  
Suddenly something hit’s Mickey hard. Oh my god!  
“Lip you said he’s in Italy right?”  
“Yeah so?”  
No,no,no this can’t be right he has to once force himself not to trust his feeling’s even though they are usually right.  
“Ask him if his friend’s name is Michael.”  
Now Lip looks stunned.  
“No, fucking way!”  
“Just ask, Lip.”  
“Ian is your friends name Michael?”  
“How do you know that?”  
Mickey can’t help it.  
“Fucking Michael! God damn son of a bitch!”  
Lip only shakes his head amused and dazed at the whole situation.  
“Ian, come home as soon as you can.”  
They hang up.  
“Oh shit, Mickey, you have been with Ian and he’s been with Michael”  
“Don’t you think I’ve figured that out already!”  
“You guys are like soul mates.”  
“That’s exactly what we are jackass.”  
Lip laughs.  
“I’m telling Mandy.”  
Mickey dodges for the phone.  
“Oh hell no!”

* * *

Ian runs up to him when he enters the house.  
“Where have you been?”  
Mickey takes a seat on the couch.  
“I found him, Ian.”  
Ian straightens already knowing, but still asks.  
“My soulmate.”  
Ian backs away from him.  
“You promised!”  
“No, I didn’t. I couldn’t. I want him”  
“You don’t even know him!”  
Mickey stands up to look at him.  
“What do you want from me? To stay here my whole life? You’re going to stay 19 forever and I’m going to keep getting older. I want a life too!”  
“You didn’t seem to mind before. What happened to you?”  
He shakes his head disgusted and disappears. Mickey can still feel him though.  
“What about if I bring Michael here?”  
Ian appears back in front of him.  
“What how?”  
“I can summon him, I know where he is.”  
“Where?”  
“He’s with my...” Mickey stops.  
“He’s with my soulmate in Italy.”  
Ian just stares at him then grabs his stomach.  
“I think I’m going to be sick.”  
“Can you even?”  
Ian starts dry heaving.  
“I guess so.”  
Luckily the ghost vomit only appeared, but didn’t stick. He was still learning a lot about ghosts he guessed.  
He takes a deep breath preparing himself. Ian had disappeared awhile before. Mickey will have to wait for him to come back, but he needed to try this.  
He never summoned a ghost he has never met before. So he’s not positive he can really do it. It will probably be easier for Ian to come home and bring Michael along with him. He thinks the sentence hard to himself (I summon Michael Milkovich who died October 8th, 1944) He tries to picture himself wearing a uniform he had seen them wear on TV. Hopefully it’s enough. Suddenly there’s a blast a wind and then there is a solider standing before him. He is stunned by his surrounding’s looking around aimlessly until his eyes meet Mickey’s and they both stall. Michael glares at him and Mickey’s a little taken aback.  
“You!” he says in an accusatory tone.  
“You know who I am?”  
Shit does he know about what he and Ian have been doing?  
"Ian’s mine you had your chance for years to find him, but now you’re too late.”  
And that’s when it hit’s him he’s talking about the other Ian and they know about the soulmate thing.  
“Okay, we are not going to get into how wrong you are about that, but I brought you here for another reason.”  
Michael crosses his arms.  
“What? And I’m not going to tell you where Ian is.”  
“I already know and if you want to be an asshole I won’t tell you where your Ian is.”  
Oh shit he has a really big mouth Mickey shakes his head and makes sure to put his shields in place he really doesn’t want to feel Michael’s emotions. He meant to ease on to the subject too late now.  
Just like he had feared Michael’s eyes cloud over, and he looks close to losing it.  
“How do you know Ian?”  
“He lives here.”  
Michael finally looks around. He falls to the floor.  
“All this time,” he whispers to himself.  
He looks at Mickey.  
“This was my house.”  
Ian reappears then right inside the door.  
“You know what Mickey? You're just a —“  
He stops spotting Michael. Mickey and whatever profanity Ian was going to throw at him is soon forgotten.  
“Michael,” he says uncertain his voice trembling.  
Michael gets to his feet shakily.  
“Ian,” he chokes out.  
Ian runs and jumps in his arms.  
“I thought I was never going to see you again” He sobs into his shoulder.  
Michael kisses his hair and face.  
“I know.”  
They press their foreheads together and stare into each others eyes. Touch one another’s faces, looking like they are having a personal conversation through their eyes that only they can understand.  
Mickey feels like he’s intruding on their moment so he leaves into the kitchen feeling like he was going to be sick himself.  
Mandy comes strolling in putting groceries down.  
“Thought I’ll get you some food, what’s wrong?”  
“Ian’s gone,” is all he answers.  
She shrugs, but pat’s his back.  
“That suck’s I’m sorry, but it’s for the best.”  
Her phone rings she answers it.  
"Ian, right now isn’t really a good time.”  
Mickey’s gaze shoot’s towards her.  
She's quiet for a moment.  
“Oh, now you want to talk to my brother?”  
Mickey almost jumps towards the phone, but he tries to pretend he’s not listening to her conversation.  
“I swear you two and your damn ghosts!”  
Mandy looks pissed.  
“Okay, but I don’t know if he’ll talk. He’s freaking out a little right now.”  
She walks towards Mickey.  
“Hey my friend wants to know if he can talk to you.”  
“Ian? Is it Ian?”  
He really tried not to sound too desperate, but it still came out sounding desperate as hell. Mandy looks at him frustrated.  
“Yes asshole, how many friends do think I have?”  
Mickey grabs the phone.  
"Ian?” he asks his voice coming out shaky. He’s making an ass out of himself.  
“Michael? How are you on a phone? What’s going on? Where are you?” Ian asks.  
Mickey almost wants to laugh, but he also wants to cry. How pathetic is that. He stays quiet until he gets the nerve to talk again.  
“This isn’t Michael, Ian, my name is Mickey and I’m your soulmate.”  
Ian does laugh, but it sounds crazed. Mandy is gaping at him.  
“What did you just say to him?”  
Michael appears in front of him instantly.  
“No! What did you do?”  
Ian stares at them both confused and then Michael’s gone. Ian looks around.  
“What happened to him? What did you do to him?”  
“I just told the truth.”  
Mickey isn’t even shocked when the other side of the line goes dead.  
Mandy and Ian both wait for an explanation.

* * *

**Ian**

Michael knocks the phone out of Ian’s hand. Ian looks at his hand stunned then continues to laugh.  
Michael grabs his face forcing him to look at him.  
“Ian!”  
“For years Mandy has been trying to get me with her brother, but I never listened.”  
Michael slaps him.  
“Snap out of it.”  
“What the fuck, Michael?!”  
Michael takes a breath and sits next to him. He tosses the bottle of alcohol Ian has been drinking to the side. Ian stares at him in awe.  
“How do you keep touching everything?”  
Michael doesn’t seem to realize he has.  
Ian falls back on the bed.  
“I have to go back home, Michael.”  
Michael sighs leans down and kisses his forehead.  
“I know, me too.”

* * *

Ian wakes up the next morning to find Michael staring at him.  
“I had the craziest dreams.”  
“That Mickey is your soulmate?”  
“Yeah.”  
“It wasn’t a dream.”  
“Oh, I’m sorry.”  
Michael walks over to sit next to him.  
“What for?”  
“You know, but you can still come back with me.”  
“To watch you with another guy?”  
Ian rubs his face.  
“I’m sorry, that was messed up I wasn’t thinking.”  
Michael takes his hand.  
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Last night when I disappeared it was because of Mickey.”  
“Mickey? Why?”  
“I don’t really understand his methods, but he knows Ian. Last night I saw him.”  
Ian’s mouth opens and then he closes it thinking about what he’s going to say.  
“So the Ian,” he stops, “the ghost Mickey thought he was falling for was your Ian all along?”  
“Mickey was falling for him?”  
“Uh huh, god this is so fucked up!”  
“I know I’ve been thinking about it all night.”  
“But Mickey thought he was or he is in love with him. Why would he bring you back?”  
“Isn’t it obvious? He wanted me away from you. Why do you think he told you right after he did it.”  
“I’m the one who called him to see how you disappeared. It wasn’t him.”  
“He still told you!”  
Ian pulls his hand away.  
“So what you just wanted to disappear with Ian and leave me clueless?”  
“No, I would never do that to you. Why do you think I’m here?”  
“I don’t know, where’s Ian?”  
“I don’t know. I kind of freaked out last night when Mickey told you and I rushed back here.”  
“You didn’t go back?”  
“I really don’t know what to say to him. How do I explain my reaction last night? How do I explain you?”  
Ian sighs.  
“Well according to Mandy he hasn’t been so innocent either so just tell him the truth.”  
Ian leans over and picks up his phone surprised to find it off. He turns it on and finds 23 messages from an unknown number.  
He glances at the preview.  
“I won’t let you choose fucking Michael over me.”  
It’s Mickey he saves the number without looking at the rest of the messages right away.  
“Mickey is freaking out.”  
“I know I turned off your phone last night so he wouldn’t wake you.”  
Ian gives him a condescending smile.  
“Oh, how considerate.”  
He hits him with his pillow.  
“If he’s anything like you I might have to reconsider this soulmate thing.”  
Ian wait’s until 6pm to call Mickey back hoping he would be up at 11am. He’s surprised at first to hear his own voice answer.  
“Hello Ian.”  
“Hi” he replies not knowing what to say.  
“Is Michael with you?”  
He looks at Michael who’s pointedly looking away.  
“Yes.”  
“Why?”  
It sounds like he blames him.  
“You should ask him? I really don’t want to get in the middle of this.”  
“Really because you want to know what it seems like to us?”  
He can hear Mickey in the background ‘Where did you come from? What are you doing? Give me that.’  
“Yeah?” Mickey answers, Ian swallows.  
“I’m not choosing Michael over you.”  
Why the hell was that the first thing he said? He’s such an idiot.  
“Ian?” Mickey seems stunned. He must’ve not have checked the caller ID before he took the phone from the ghost.  
“Yeah.”  
“Where have you been? I tried calling all night?”  
“I know, I’m sorry my phone was off. When I talked to you last night it was like 2 something here and I was drinking so I kind of passed out.”  
Mickey makes a sound.  
“Fuck I’m sorry I forgot you were in Italy.”  
“It’s okay.”  
“So are you coming back to Chicago?”  
“I’m leaving in the morning I should be back there at 7:48pm, Chicago time.”  
“Anybody picking you up?”  
“Mandy’s meeting me.”  
“Fuck that, I’ll pick you up.”  
“Okay.”  
He rolls his eyes at himself. He feels like a stupid little girl talking to her crush. Michael’s now sitting right beside him listening. Ian pushes him away. He listens as Ghost Ian talks with Mickey.  
“Ian wants you to make sure Michael comes with you.”  
Ian smiles to himself, now feeling a little confidence in this conversation; even if it’s in spite of Michael.  
“I’ll have to talk to him about that he’s not really sure if he’s comfortable going back, OW!”  
Michael fucking bit him.  
“Asshole,” he laughs and pushes him away.  
“Uh, I guess he’s fine with that,” he tells Mickey.  
Mickey lets out an irritated sound. He attempts to sound calm when he talks to Ian.  
“Can I talk to Michael?”  
“Michael can’t...” he stops and rethinks Michael’s current activities. He’s shut off his phone. He threw away the alcohol bottle. He read his messages. Ian answered Mickey’s phone, damn!  
“Believe me since they reunited last night they can touch a lot of things they couldn’t before.” Mickey tells him.  
“Uh yeah, I just realized that.”  
He tries to hand the phone to Michael, but he won’t take it.  
“I don’t want to talk to him!”  
“Come on just talk to him.”  
“No!”  
Ian gets back on the phone.  
“He doesn’t want to talk to you.”  
“Okay I’ll just summon him.”  
Michael grabs the phone.  
“Yes?”  
“What’s wrong with you? I summon you back here and you just disappear. You know what until tomorrow just keep your hands to yourself. “  
Michael’s eyebrows shoot up and he smiles.  
“It’s a little too late for that, but I haven’t touched him anymore then you’ve touched Ian so at least you know we’re even.”  
He hangs up.  
“What the fuck was that? I was talking to him.”  
Michael tosses the phone.  
“Not anymore.”

* * *

**Mickey**

Mickey looks at the phone offended. “All this time that's who I’ve been jealous of.”  
Ian sighs.  
“I told you not to be.”  
“He’s an ass.”  
Ian doesn’t argue with him still pissed off at Michael disappearing and not reappearing.  
“Mickey, what if he wants to be with Ian?”  
Mickey shrugs.  
“Then too bad Ian wants to be with me.”  
“What’s so great about him? Is it that he’s alive?”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Ian! You want him and so does Michael.”  
“You don’t know that! I've seen how he was looking at you last night.”  
“What about you?”  
Mickey runs his hands through his hair.  
“I don’t want to have this conversation with you.”  
“Why?”  
“It’s awkward.”  
“Just tell me.”  
“Okay, I’m just tired of being a consolation prize.”  
Ian sits beside him and takes his hand.  
“You’re not.”  
Mickey removes his hand.  
“Yes, I am! The only reason you wanted to be with me was because I looked like him. It might not even matter anymore, because now he’s had you both first.”  
“He’ll be stupid if he doesn’t realize how amazing you are; besides he’s your soulmate right. I’m still mad at you about that by the way.”  
Mickey almost wants to smile at how quick he changed their conversation to something they will be more comfortable talking about. They love to argue.  
“Why?”  
“Because you chose him!”  
“What? You have Michael!”  
“I know and thank you for that! It’s just, you promised me you wouldn’t go looking for him, but you did anyway.”  
“I would never have found Michael if I didn’t find him.”  
“I know, but you didn’t know that. I had time to think about it and that was really fucked up!”  
Wow, he turned him to quite the cusser.  
“What would you have done if Michael wasn’t there just force me to move on when Ian shows up?”  
“No!” he stops and thinks for a minute. What would he have done? Luckily he never had to think about it since he found out about Michael.  
“I never thought about it. I get it I did wrong by looking for my soulmate. I just needed to okay, and stop being such a hypocrite. It took you like 2 minutes for you to start making out with him. What would have happened if you found him first? “  
“I wouldn’t have without you.”  
“Yeah and isn’t that fucked up? This whole situation is!”  
“It is, and then he just disappears right after.”  
“Yeah that was really fucked up too!” Mickey says.  
Ian agrees.  
-  
Both of them with Mandy show up at the airport to wait for Ian and Michael. Mandy keeps flashing Mickey smiles.  
“Shut up.”  
“Soulmates!” she sing-songs.  
He nudges her.  
“You’re so annoying.”  
“You’re the one interrupting mine and Ian’s moment. If I’m annoying you so much just leave.”  
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”  
She lets out a loud squeal, and takes off. She jumps into Ian’s arms wrapping her legs around his waist.  
“You asshole!”  
She says slapping and hugging him. Ian nudges Mickey.  
“There’s your guy.”  
Mickey smiles.  
“I know.”  
He looks over at him.  
“Where’s yours?”  
Ian frowns.  
“I don’t know. What if he didn’t come?”  
Mickey looks back at Ian and Mandy to see if he spots Michael and then back at Ian to answer. That’s when he sees Michael. He grabs Ian and turns him to face him.  
“Michael,” Ian say’s shocked.  
He slaps him then kisses him.  
“I’m sorry,” Michael tells him.  
Mickey can’t help but smile a little. It still kind of sucks, but he hated seeing Ian so heartbroken.  
Mandy and Ian come walking up to them hand in hand. Ian glances over at the couple looking partly amused. When he turns to Mickey his face reddens. Mandy takes a deep breath.  
“I’ve wanted to do this for years, but it took damn ghosts for you two to agree. Next time just listen to me okay. Ian this is my brother Mickey and Mickey this my best friend Ian.”  
They stare at each other for a long moment then Mickey throws his hands up.  
“Fuck it.”  
Then he’s grabbing Ian and kissing him. Ian doesn’t even hesitate he just kisses him back and it’s rough like they can’t get enough and Ian tastes like coke and he’s warm, and Mickey can’t even remember the last time he’s kissed somebody that was warm, but he can tell he missed it and they’re both moaning and then he remembers they are right in the middle of an airport in front of his sister. He pulls away slightly Ian’s eyes open slowly and he smiles.  
They glance around and Mandy is smiling with one hand covering her mouth and even the ghosts are staring at them. Mickey doesn’t even want to look around to see who else is staring.  
Mickey takes Ian’s hand.  
“Okay, let’s go get something to eat,” he says even though he rather be doing other things at the moment. When they get in the car Mandy sits in the back with the ghost’s letting Ian sit next to Mickey.  
“I never thought I would ever see you kiss a guy,” Mandy exclaims.  
“Shut up, Mandy!”  
Ian reaches over and takes Mickey’s hand entwining their fingers over the console.  
“Mickey, maybe this is a bad time, but the light is back,” says ghost Ian.  
The car comes to a screeching halt. Mickey turns around to face him.  
“What? No! Hell no! We have to work this out.”  
Mandy’s eyes follow Mickey’s.  
“I’m sitting next to the ghost’s aren’t I?”  
Ian nods, and then he’s looking at Michael.  
“What is it?”  
Michael shakes his head.  
“I don’t know, but it’s really bright.”  
Ghost Ian holds Michael's hand tighter and ignores the Ian in the front seat.  
“It means we are supposed to pass on.”  
Ian swallows hard, and looking at Michael.  
“You’re leaving?”  
“No, he’s not going anywhere neither of them are!” Mickey yells.  
“What if it disappears Mickey, what if we lose our chance?” asks ghost Ian.  
Mickey shrugs.  
“Then too bad.”  
They all three gape at him and Mandy is wondering what’s going on. After some more fighting the ghosts agree to at least wait until they talk to Mickey’s Grandma and Ian tries to explain everything to Mandy. They head to a diner to get some dinner. It might look odd too everybody else why they got such a big booth for seemingly only three people, but Mickey doesn’t care. He watches as Mandy and Ian talk. The ghost’s only seem to be paying attention to each other.  
“So how much was it?” Mandy asks.  
“Don’t know probably around $40,000.”  
She starts laughing covering her mouth so she doesn’t spit out her food.  
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mickey asks them.  
“It was how much Ian’s trip cost his sugar daddy.”  
Mickey’s eyebrows shoot up.  
“His what?” then he rethinks it, “You know what I don’t want to know,” they both laugh, then “Wait you mean you can get guys to give you that kind of money?”  
Ian nods around a bite of his cheeseburger.  
“Sure.”  
Mandy watches Mickey for a moment then laughs.  
“Oh god look at his face! He really is a Milkovich!”  
He crosses his arms.  
“Shut up.”  
They both giggle like girls. This is why he didn’t want to date one of Mandy’s friends.  
Luckily the ghosts fuck off sometime during dinner so that’s one last headache he has to deal with. Their disapproving gazes were annoying him. It’s not 1940 whatever anymore! People are different. He thought at least Ian was better with everything, but he really hadn’t taken him out much so it’s partly his fault. Mandy unfortunately turned out to be too much for them to handle. Even he feels insulted for her. What the hell do they think? Girls are supposed to be all well-mannered and wear dresses and shit?  
To be honest he was actually starting to enjoy watching Mandy and Ian. Neither he nor his sister had ever done the friend thing well, but sometime when Mandy was in high school she acquired this gay best friend she never stopped talking to Mickey about. The same friend she never stopped trying to get Mickey with the moment she realized he was gay too.  
It took her longer than would be expected to find out, but he wasn’t around much for Mandy always running from his father, and he thought he preferred to be alone until he found out how nice it was not to be.  
Mandy and Ian were so natural together. They were always teasing and touching and laughing, and he wasn’t used to seeing his sister so happy. So he enjoyed it! Maybe he needed to make more of an effort into being a part of her life. The thought doesn’t escape him that if he wasn’t so distant from his family this wouldn’t have happened. He would’ve known what his own sister’s best friend looked like. The rest of his family knows him, but he doesn’t. He had never cared to until now and that was the problem.  
What he tries not to think about is how much the bill is going to cost, because it seemed like Mandy and Ian were eating a little bit of everything and he didn’t have the nerve to say anything. Still so unsure with Ian, and his sister can get scary when it came to food. So he’s surprised when Ian slides a plastic credit card to the waitress.  
“You didn’t have to do that” Mickey protests.  
Ian shrugs.  
“Might as well make good use of it before the bastard cuts me off.”  
Right the sugar daddy. He almost, just almost forgot about that.

* * *

Mickey drops Mandy off first trying to ignore her and her teasing, because this was already awkward enough, and this was truly going to be the first time he was alone with Ian and should he ask him? Was it too early? Being his soulmate and everything or whatever shouldn’t he expect sex on the first night?  
“Uh so...”  
Ian gives him a look he can’t decipher.  
“Do you know where the ghosts went?” Ian questions  
What? Why does he want to know that?  
“Ian said we’re going home so I guess my place.”  
“We should go check on them”  
Mickey can’t help, but smile at him, feeling relived he wouldn’t have to ask.

* * *

When they walk in the house they find the ghosts amongst some kind of argument, and between them is some big black book. They stop when they hear the door.  
Ian brushes up beside him making tingles run up his arm, and then Ian stops and points.  
“I told you to leave that shit in Italy,” he yells at Michael.  
“I wish I had, he wants to show me things.”  
Ian laughs.  
“HA! How does it feel trying to get forced into seeing things you don’t want to see.”  
“What are all of you bitching about?” Mickey asks them.  
Michael tosses the book on the floor as a response.  
The ghost Ian looks between all three of them and then appears in front of Mickey.  
“Mickey we need to talk.”  
He pushes him out the front door.  
“What’s your problem?”  
“You are, you don’t even know him and you’re kissing him and bringing him home.”  
Mickey tries to shove past him.  
“Mind your own business.”  
“That too! Why have you been acting like this?”  
“Like what?”  
“Like I’m just some annoying ghost.”  
“Uh you are an annoying ghost.”  
Mickey tries to avoid his eyes and how much they remind him of a wounded puppy.  
“You know what I mean! I thought you loved me.”  
Mickey chews on his thumbnail.  
“I thought I did too.”  
“So what? You’re just like fuck off I have a living Ian now.”  
“Oh, like you were like fuck off I have Michael back now?”  
Ian looks like he’s about to cry. Oh please, don’t fucking cry.  
“It wasn’t like that and you’re the one who brought him back and that was only to make up for knowing you were ditching me.”  
“What do you want Ian? You got Michael you got your light. What do you want from me?”  
He points through the window at Ian and Michael playfully fighting over the book.  
“I want that.”  
“To flirt?” Mickey asks, because that’s sure as hell what it looks like to him.  
Ian looks back flustered.  
“No! I’ve watched them tonight. They are so comfortable around each other like we used to be. I want to be your friend again to at least know you still care.”  
Mickey shakes his head solemnly.  
“Sorry I can’t, too much has happened.”  
Now Ian starts crying.  
“Look Ian I had to learn to turn my emotions off a long time ago. I thought with you it was impossible, but I was wrong. I just needed the right motive,” he points to Michael who now seems to be in on all-out fight with Ian, “and seeing you with Michael was that. I might have brought him here, but you went running back to him like I never existed. That’s okay though now I can have somebody who can love me and not just for the person I look like.”  
He does shove past him this time ignoring Ian as he called after him. Entering the house he can truly see what is happening inside or hear it at least.  
“I say we just mail it back to her,” Ian tells Michael.  
“After I went through all the trouble of stealing it? What if she curses us or something?”  
Ian let’s out an exasperated sigh.  
“She’s a psychic not a witch!”  
“Aren’t they practically the same thing?”  
Mickey takes the book out of Ian’s hands.  
“In my experience, most of the time yes! So if you stole this let’s get it out of the house shall we.”  
He places the book on the back porch.  
Michael takes the opportunity of the distraction to grab Ian, “We should be headed to your place. I’m curious to see if any of your family looks familiar.”  
He turns to the other Ian whose sitting shocked on the couch.  
“Come on we’re going to Ian’s. You can see your relatives.”  
The ghost stands up awkwardly and gives Mickey a confused look, but is ready to leave with his boyfriend. The other Ian _‘Mickey’s Ian’_ isn’t so willing.  
“Wait, I want to get to know Mickey!”  
Michael bites his lip and gawks at Ian for a minute then he’s grabbing his hand, “Talk to me,” he says dragging him to the back.  
“I think all those years in Italy really messed up his head,” Mickey remarks.  
Ian turns to him red faced.  
“Why because he knows what you two are doing is stupid like me?”  
“You really don’t see what’s happening here do you?”  
“What?”  
“He wants to have both of you.”  
“Stop being a jerk, Mickey.”  
He has to admit he kind of is being a jerk and Michael really is just doing the same thing Ian did a couple minutes ago with him, but who knows maybe he is right. Michael didn’t seem to be going through any of the emotions that Ian seems to be going through. So maybe he really thinks he’s not losing anything.

* * *

**Ian**

Ian jerks away from him embarrassed.  
“What are doing?”  
Michael pokes him the chest.  
“No what are doing? Why are you even here?”  
“I told you I want to get to know Mickey.”  
“And it has to be tonight? You can’t like meet somewhere tomorrow to get some lunch or something?”  
“Why does it matter when it happens?”  
“Because you’re here alone with him at night.”  
Ian takes a seat on the steps.  
“We’re obviously not alone.”  
Michael gives him a deep look regarding him like a wild animal.  
“Ian, it’s just you are very - ” he rubs his lip with his thumb uncomfortably, “adventuress,” he pauses, “sexually.”  
“Oh, I get it so you think I’m a whore.”  
He sits beside him.  
“I didn’t say that.”  
Ian ignores him.  
“So what? You don’t want me to corrupt your nephew?”  
“This isn’t about him.”  
“No, this about you,” Ian says.  
He pokes him on the forehead.  
“Go back to your boyfriend, Michael.”  
Ian stands to go, but Michael drags him back down.  
“Wait, I understand now.”  
“What?”  
“I think you’re jealous. Ian always acted the same way. “  
“Really? And how am I acting?”  
“By doing everything you can to make me jealous!” he seethes.  
“Get over yourself!” Ian scoffs.  
Michael grabs him and twists him around.  
“You’re not having sex with him.”  
Ian shoves him away.  
“Stop, I won’t okay, but it’s not because you.”  
Ian walks into the house running straight into the other Ian. He steadies himself looks around and sees Mickey leaning on the wall beside the door.  
“Great, you both were listening.”  
Mickey clears his throat.  
“Um, we didn’t hear anything.”  
Ian turns back to his doppelganger uncle. They stare each other down for a moment and Ian starts to notice slight differences, but still it’s like looking into a mirror except without his flaws or scars. He feels really self-conscience and takes a step back. The other sighs heavily sounding tired of his own existence.  
“You’re the first family member I’ve seen in almost 50 years! I don’t want us to hate each other!”  
“I don’t hate you,” Ian lies to him, because he kind of did.  
The other laughs.  
“Yes you do.“  
He reaches out a hand and places it on Ian’s chest a weird glow surrounds them. They all four look up amazed. The ghost removes his hand and stares at it and back up at Ian.  
“What did you think would happen?” Ian asks.  
“I don’t know, that’s why I tried it, but it’s like -”  
“We’re connected now?” Ian tries because it’s almost as if he’s him now in a way.  
“Exactly.”  
He touches Ian again.  
“It all makes sense now! We have all been holding so much guilt about what happened between all four of us, but we shouldn’t! “  
Ghost Ian says.   
He looks at Mickey and Michael.  
“I can tell you feel it too and I know everything Ian is feeling so I know it’s all there.”  
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mickey asks.  
Ian understands, but maybe it’s because of the connection, but he knows it has to be confusing to the other two. The ghost takes a breath ready to explain it all.  
“I love you, Michael, more than anything in the world, but this past year I fell for Mickey and I felt horrible for that, like I betrayed you. I tried to make excuses for myself that it was only because he looked so much like you. Now I know the truth! We aren’t just reincarnations! We share the same souls! No matter who we are we’re always that soul and it’s always going to love yours. “  
Ian feels the little heartbreak he had been feeling subside because he now realizes that what he and Michael had although brief wasn’t only an illusion.  
“That would make sense,” Michael says glancing over at Ian, “but isn’t a ghost like a lost soul or something how do both of us still have the same soul?”  
They all look to Mickey. He holds his hands up in surrender.  
“Hey, just because I help ghosts move on doesn’t make me an expert on them! I just know that technically nobody knows what a ghost is. So I can’t say they are lost souls just lost entities really. There are also so many different types of ghosts. Some aren’t even really ghosts just residuals replaying the same moment over and over again. Like their death for example. Those really scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.”  
Michael nods.  
“There are a lot of those in Europe it took me the longest time to realize they weren’t like the rest of us.”  
Ian nods frantically.  
“I think I saw Mussolini’s death and in London at night you can steal hear bombings and in Paris I saw beheadings from the revolution! Oh god, and in Russia -”  
Mickey put’s a hand on his shoulder to stop him as he starts to shudder just thinking about them.  
“and that’s why I hardly ever leave Chicago,” Mickey agrees, “I mean I seen some really fucked up things here, but compared to some other places it’s not as bad. Anyway I know nothing about souls, but maybe you still have a fragment of it or something. Maybe that’s why we had to find you so you can give it back.”  
“That would be a good reason, but you found me and Ian found Michael. If it was that simple wouldn’t Ian have found me and you have found Michael?” ghost Ian asks.  
Mickey only shrugs.  
“Maybe I can help,” says a female voice from behind them.  
They all jump, she giggles and when they all turn to see her Ian feels instantly sick.

* * *

**Mickey**

“Shit!” Mickey yells catching Ian before he falls. Mickey needs to teach him how to block emotions as long as the other Ian is around, now that he went and connected with him. Mickey makes sure his own shields are in place when he looks at her, because the emotions that must be going around this room right now are probably part shock, anger, sadness, and love, because right there looking more like an actress from a 50’s movie than a ghost is Laura Milkovich.  
He had never seen any ghost that looked like her before. She was vibrant and her cheeks seemed to glow. She’s so beautiful that he can barely take his eyes off her, but nobody can. He does flick a quick glance to Michael, because how could he not? This is going to interesting.  
Ian stands up straight.  
“Hey, you’re that ghost that was stalking me.”  
She gives him an apologetic smile.  
“I’m sorry I had to.”  
Michael is the first to approach his sister. She reaches for his face, but he turns from her. She only falters slightly.  
“I suppose I deserve that.”  
She looks at Ian, the ghost that is, and she smiles covering her smile slightly in excitement.  
“You found each other! I had hoped you would! Shoot, I’ve been stuck here until you did. You know after Ian died I kept thinking at least they’re back together now. Then I go and die and find out nope you weren’t together at all! So depressing and I was already quite the mess.“  
She now manages to capture her brother’s face since he’s too confused to protest.  
“I love you so much, and I am so sorry I hurt you! I was such a stupid girl! I didn’t understand. I thought you were just going through a phase. I didn’t know how much you loved him! When you died a part of me died, and you don’t know how much I blamed myself for both of your deaths.”  
He steps back slightly looking more confused than ever.  
“Okay, I never forgave you for trying to Marry Ian, but why would you blame yourself for my death?”  
“Why wouldn’t I?”  
Mickey looks over at ghost Ian to tell her, but he’s still lost in his own emotions so Mickey decides he should answer.  
“Laura and Ian thought you let yourself die after you found out about the wedding. I know it caused Ian to practically drink himself to death over a broken heart and guilt, and he told me Laura was inconsolable for days after you died and kept screaming out your name and was like saying she was sorry. I told Ian the truth after I seen it in a vision, but she doesn’t know.”  
“Laura Elizabeth! I died because I got shot not because of either of you! I admit I was really upset, but you both know me. I was planning on coming back and making your lives hell and fighting to get him back! Not die before I got a chance.”  
“But - ” Mickey starts wanting to remind him that he should at least tell them the whole truth that he had thought about it, but Michael stops him.  
“Shut up, Mickey!”  
Mickey looks at Laura and then the ghost whose still beside him. Then he looks back at Michael and shakes his head. Another way Laura is different is that he can tell exactly how she died. He doesn’t know how, but he does. He knows every detail of her death and what led up to it. She died a lot like Ian had although her death had come slower. At first the drinking was just to numb the pain, and then it became more. She was right she had never forgiven herself for their deaths, and that’s why she could never move on. Not until she knew everything was right again.  
“No, because keeping it that way will just make them think they died believing something that was stupid.”  
“I’m not! I just hate the fact that blamed themselves instead of the War. I didn’t want them to ever believe that! Although now Mickey has brought it up and made it obvious I have to admit at first I thought about it, but then I snapped out of it. Neither of you have to feel guilty for anything! Except getting married in the first place, because I’m still really angry about that.”  
Laura hugs him.  
“You don’t know how much I needed to hear that.”  
“Just so neither of you have any more doubts I got a postcard from Ian the day I died saying he called it off.”  
She backs away.  
“Oh, so that explains why you weren’t angry with Ian anymore.”  
He smiles.  
“Oh, I’m still mad, but we haven’t had that conversation yet.”  
Laura takes a seat back at table.  
“Don’t be all too angry at him. I don’t know what he was like the last time you seen him, but he wasn’t the same boy he was when he left. Did you ever hear the real reason they sent him home?”  
“He got shot.”  
“Yes, but it wasn’t just that. If he could have been healed then they would have just waited until he was better.”  
“Laura, please don’t!” ghost Ian pleads with her.  
This is the first time that the other ghost speaks to her. She looks up at him her face softening.  
“I want to know! If you don’t want her to tell me then you tell me please,” Michael says.  
Ghost Ian looks conflicted the other Ian groans in pain, and Mickey pulls him closer. He can’t help feeling interested too. He never heard this part.  
“I was a freak!” The ghost yells out.  
“You weren’t a freak you were disabled!” Laura disagrees.  
“I could hardly use my arm anymore. I had become distant from everyone after everything that happened and everything I seen, and I felt useless and you were still out there. Laura was the only one who I could talk to. She knew about you and she listened, and not long after I got home my old wound got infected and Laura took care of me. So we don’t have to have any discussion that was why I was marrying her. I cared about her and I thought we could never really be together. Then I realized it wasn’t fair to her because I loved you and I could never love her the way she deserved. So I called it off and decided that I didn’t care if we couldn’t be a real couple as long as we were together.”  
Michael kisses him.  
“I understand.”  
Laura claps her hands once sharply to get everyone attention.  
“Great, now for the real reason I’m here!” Her voice comes out a bit shaky.  
Guess she didn’t like being reminded of being ditched or she still had feelings for Ian. Either way she wasn’t as confident as she had been before.  
“Yeah and what are you?” Mickey questions.  
She smiles at him lovingly.  
“Mickey! You know it’s because of you this was all possible? I had been watching the family for years but after your Mom caught me I kept my distance. I didn’t know what she would do with me. Years later I started to hear stories about you, and I got intrigued. You were the first living relative who had the ability to communicate with me, but then I saw your face! I didn’t have the strength to talk to you, but I watched you a lot. I also watched Ian for years.”  
She gives ghost Ian a sad smile.  
“Which was rude of me, I know. You had to have been as lonely as I was, and it would’ve been nice to have each other to talk to, but I was afraid I would only make it worse. I saw you had been staying in our old house, and I knew you were there waiting for Michael to come home.”  
She looks to Michael.  
“Father had sold it not long after the War, Derek was the only one who returned home and he was never the same. It was too much for Mama! She lost three sons and the house held too many memories. They couldn’t keep it. Anyway when I noticed Mickey moved a lot I got an Idea and visited a witch I knew. She did a quick spell that made the previous owners move out. Then of course we waited a couple months before making Mickey decide to move in.”  
She takes a deep sigh.  
“That’s when it all started to go wrong. “  
She looks at ghost Ian.  
“I thought when you saw him you would tell him how much he looked like Michael and then you two would figure out how to find Michael, but you didn’t. There were months of this, then one day I was hanging around Mandy when he walked in.”  
She points to Ian.  
“At first I thought Ian found me especially after he looked right at me, but he only smiled and told Mandy she had a ghost sitting next to her. She said hi then they just watched TV. Of course then I started following him. He did notice me, but only because I had more information to find out about him.  
Anyway I did my research and there was only one explanation I could think of, and since Ian wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do I decided I needed to send this one to Michael. The only problem with that is that I had no idea where Michael was. The only clue I had was where I knew he died which was Italy. So we just had Ian sent to Europe. It didn’t take him long to find Michael. I know that because that was when I was able to pass on.  
I have no idea why, but they thought it was enough. Now I’m not able to tell you who they are, but they helped me finish what I was doing because you two have been overdue on passing as well. Now with more power I was able to manipulate more things. You four are truly insufferable though because Michael did the same thing Ian did! Even with my help guiding them to the right place to get the soul mate information my selfish brother decided he didn’t want to share Ian with Mickey. I was so beyond myself! How was he ever supposed to find out Ian was still around if Ian wasn’t leaving to meet Mickey? I didn’t know what to do! I wasn’t technically able to manipulate any of you. I was just able to help a little.  
So here I went on waiting again and then suddenly after all that time Ian slipped and mentioned the tattoo. Which I had no idea you even had Michael! Oh, Mama would have killed you herself if she knew. Luckily Mickey didn’t like being the reincarnation very much, and you all know the rest.  
So up until earlier tonight I thought my job was finished. Then Mickey wouldn’t let you pass until you found out why you were all in this mess so I was allowed to come back to tell you. I think it’s time we all find some peace don’t you?”  
Mickey can only think of one thing to say.  
“Fuck!”  
The end is bittersweet. They hug goodbye Michael and Ian, and Ian and Mickey, and with one last smile Ian looks up at him.  
“Thank you for bringing him back to me Mickey! I’ll miss you!”  
And all he can say is the same thing he said to Penny.  
“I hope not.”  
That night after the ghosts disappeared out of their lives forever Mickey and Ian laid on his bed looking at each other. Mickey has only known him for less than 5 hours now, but his heart already belonged to this red head that was looking at him. Their fingers entwine and Mickey leans in to touch his lips. He didn’t know what it felt to be whole before tonight or what it was to have a home, but now with Ian he does. He got a glimpse of it before with the other Ian, but now with both of their souls fully intact and with this Ian, who was made just for him everything is just the way it is supposed to be! 

**Author's Note:**

> Now this is finished my full focus is back on my other stories. I am sorry I've been gone for so long,but a lot has happened to me this past summer. Thankfully things are starting to get better! As always you can find me at uprysing.tumblr.com


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